We have no pictures prior to 1952. The first school album in our archives is from 1952. This person was the principal of Lowell Elementary until June 1953. Our early albums did not include names of staff and students. Please contact the school to let us know who this person was. We wish to include his name and the names of others down below.
This was the school principal of Lowell Elementary from July 1953 to June 1954. He was principal for one year. Please contact us if you know who he was.
This was the principal of Lowell Elementary from July 1954 to June 1956. Please contact us if you know who this person was.
Mr. Robert Long was principal from July 1956 to June 1966. This picture is from 1960.
This is another picture of Mr. Robert Long. This picture was taken in 1961. He retired from Lowell after having been principal for ten years.
He was the principal of Lowell for two years, from July 1966 to June 1968. This picture was taken in 1967. We do not have his name in our records. Please contact us and let us know who this principal was.
This is Grace W. Perkins. She was principal at Lowell Elementary School from July 1968 through June 1972. The school would be renamed in her honor in 1990. Please read her incredible biography on the previous page. During her four years as principal she had an enormous impact on the community. She began a bilingual program at the school that became a model for the state of California.
Principal of Lowell Elementary from July 1972 to June 1974. Ms. Cisneros would become principal at other schools in San Diego Unified.
Principal of Lowell Elementary from July 1974 to June 1980, Ms. Margarita Carmona. Ms. Carmona would later become principal at Balboa Elementary.
Principal of Lowell Elementary from July 1980 to June 1986. This picture of Mr. Luis Villegas was taken in 1982. There is a strand of beautiful Jacaranda trees that line the school the entire length of Newton Avenue. Mr. Villegas had those trees planted and they are still there today. Mr. Villegas would later become the Director of Special Education for San Diego Unified. He went on to become the Superintendent of the Santa Paula Unified School District and also Superintendent of the Pleasant Valley School District. His wife would later become the principal at this same school renamed Perkins Elementary.
Ms. Consuelo Gills was principal from July 1986 to June 1991. This picture was taken in 1986. Ms. Gills was instrumental in overseeing the renaming of the school. You will notice in the staff pictures that Ms. Gills was principal of Lowell Elementary in 1989 and principal of Perkins Elementary in 1990, all at the same school. She was previously the vice principal of the school for several years in the 1970s.
Mr. Marco Curiel was principal from August 1991 to June 1996. He was present during the visit by President George H. W. Bush. He also oversaw the reconstruction and modernization of the Perkins during his first two years as principal. After leaving Perkins in 1996 he became principal at Memorial Middle School.
Ms. Charlene Sapien was principal at Perkins from August 1996 to June 1998. She later became principal at Washington Elementary and then moved to be principal in the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
This is a picture of Mrs. Diane Villegas in 2002. She was the principal at Perkins from August 1998 to June 2003. Her husband, Luis Villegas, was principal of the school in the early 1980s. She left Perkins in 2003 to become a school principal in Santa Clarita, California.
Mr. Hernandez has been principal at Perkins from 2003 to 2024 and is still at Perkins. This is a picture of Mr. Fernando J Hernandez in 2010. He oversaw the transformation of Perkins from an elementary school to a K-8 school.