An avid hiker during his high school career, Associate Superintendent Tom Avvakumovits spent his free time in the Sierras as a Boy Scout leader. When he was 17, he occasionally led 10-year-old Boy Scouts on hiking excursions. While leading a knot-tying activity for setting up tents, Avvakumovits recalls the satisfaction of creating an engaging environment. Ever since he saw the first spark of excitement in the junior Boy Scouts after his mini-lesson, he discovered that he had a knack for teaching.
“Being a Boy Scouts leader made me think, ‘Maybe I can do education for a living,’” Avvakumovits said. “‘How do I make it interesting where I can ignite a passion for a love of learning?’ I’m not convinced that any Boy Scout needs to learn how to tie a knot necessarily, but if I can ignite a passion for learning and wanting to learn more, to me, that’s what made me think that maybe I can do this education gig.”
After 31 years in education, Avvakumovits announced that he would retire at the end of the ‘23 to ‘24 school year. Ever since he was a high schooler in Marin County, California, Avvakumovits had teachers tell him that he would make a great teacher, an interaction that he calls “very flattering.” He chose to double major in economics and social studies, but when he did an internship for business, he found it monotonous and unfulfilling. With the support of his college girlfriend, who also had aspirations to become a teacher, he decided to take another shot at pursuing a career in education.
“When I first got into a classroom, I was student teaching at Lynbrook,” Avvakumovits said. “After one day, I got back in my car and I said, ‘That was inspiring, energizing. This is what I’m going to do. I want to be in education for the rest of my life.’”
Upon graduating college in 1991, he attended a teaching credential program at San Jose State and was hired as a teacher at FUHSD, where he stayed for his whole career. He later went on to marry his college girlfriend, Michele, who is also an FUHSD graduate and currently a Cupertino High School English teacher. Avvakumovits’ sons are also both FUHSD graduates, and his father-in-law was the principal of Homestead High School. As much of his close family has ties to the district, Avvakumovits jokes that he “bleeds FUHSD colors.”
Avvakumovits began his career as a math teacher at Lynbrook High School in 1993. It was in his first year of teaching that he taught then-freshman Pooya Hajjarian, who is currently an MVHS Biology and Health teacher. Hajjarian says Avvakumovits inspired him to pursue a teaching career.
When Hajjarian was taking Avvakumovits’ math class, Hajjarian recalls lacking confidence, yet looking forward to attending class. Hajjarian recalls feeling accepted and supported in the classroom, something that he hopes to emulate in his own teaching.
Although it was math class, Avvakumovits’ short Monday morning discussions of what happened in the latest episode of “Melrose Place” turned into a class ritual, which Hajjarian believes helped connect him with his peers and his teacher. He describes Avvakumovits as a “warm demander,” a teacher who demands the best out of their students yet is kind toward them.
“That was his first year teaching, and at that point, he had already mastered it where it just felt like we knew what the expectations were and we also knew that we were going to have fun doing all this,” Hajjarian said. “All of those things lend themselves to students feeling like that was a place of joy for us.”
Prior to attending Avvakumovits’ class, Hajjarian had considered being a teacher but never thought about what that would entail. Hajjarian says Avvakumovits’ class helped him envision what he wanted to recreate for other students.
In 1994, Avvakumovits transferred to be a Social Studies teacher at CHS. Math and Physics teacher Michael Lordan, who had him as a Social Studies teacher, shares Hajjarian’s sentiment about Avvakumovits’ teaching style of holding an engaging classroom setting yet still having a stricter side. Storytime was also common in Avvakumovits’ Social Studies classes, but what Lordan most appreciated was Avvakumovits’ flexibility in writing a last-minute letter of recommendation for college.
Sixteen of Avvakumovits’ students became FUHSD teachers, which includes Guidance Counselor Clay Stiver. Avvakumovits recalls
spending evenings going to Stiver’s basketball games and says that it is inspiring to see a former student’s growth and have the chance to talk to Stiver about his days in high school.
Avvakumovits remembers an instance where an Economics student who expressed no interest in the class told him that he made learning Social Studies enjoyable and that he always looked forward to coming to class. What was especially heartening to Avvakumovits was whenever he would walk to the Staff Lounge after class and hear his students outside talking with friends about his lesson, be it a French Revolution simulation or an in-class debate.
After teaching for 11 years, he also took on the role of Teachers Association President for four years. Those years were what he calls “tough economic times,” when FUHSD was forced to cut teachers’ pay and lay off dozens of teachers. Nevertheless, it was during this time that Avvakumovits knew every teacher in the district by going to all five campuses and listening to their concerns.
Because of Avvakumovits’ leadership, the assistant superintendent at the time asked him to become a district administrator, yet Avvakumovits politely declined. However, on a family vacation, his father-in-law told him that offers for an administrative position are rare and that he should consider it.
Heeding his advice, Avvakumovits accepted the offer and began his administrative career as Manager of Employee Development. He progressed in his career by becoming the Director of Human Resources for eight years and the Associate Superintendent for another eight, where he oversaw human resources, investigated complaints and coordinated professional development.
Just like Avvakumovits, Hajjarian started going down a different path after high school and instead went to medical school. Yet Hajjarian eventually was at a place where he decided that a career in medicine would not be as fulfilling as teaching. He says he was not “being authentic to himself” and was doing what his family and society pressured him to pursue. After deciding to start fresh, Hajjarian applied for a teacher position at FUHSD, and it was Avvakumovits who hired him.
Lordan’s first career was in aerospace engineering, but he says that there was always something in him that made him want to pursue a career in education. Avvakumovits’ flexibility was also exhibited when Lordan missed the opportunity to apply to be a Physics teacher at MVHS, yet Avvakumovits helped set up an interview with Physics teacher Jim Birdsong, which allowed Lordan to secure the job.
As a district administrator, Avvakumovits also coordinated a new teacher program and professional development, where he worked closely with Director of Leadership Development Josh Maisel. As Maisel’s supervisor, Avvakumovits adhered to his own philosophy of inspiring growth in others, a quality that Maisel felt made Avvakumovits a great leader.
“I would come to him with the problem, and what I wanted was for him to just tell me what to do, but instead he would just ask me questions, help me think about future consequences and take perspectives of the different people involved,” Maisel said. “I found that really helpful because even though at the moment I was frustrated — because I knew he knew the answer and could just give it to me — he never would. He would make me solve my own problems.”
After being colleagues for 15 years, Maisel attributes several successes in his career to Avvakumovits’ guidance and says that he is happy for him but will miss
him dearly. Maisel says Avvakumovits was always a person who prioritized relationships over anything. Avvakumovits agrees as he says it is the human interaction that he will miss most.
While 55 is an age that Avvakumovits says is early for retirement, he and Michele wanted to live closer to their sons who reside in Arizona. After Avvakumovits and Michele bought a house there, he announced his retirement at a principals’ meeting to give Superintendent Graham Clark ample time to fill the position.
“As much as I love Fremont Union High School District, family is going to come first,” Avvakumovits said. “My youngest son is a math teacher in Scottsdale, and he keeps on inviting me to be a sub or a teacher there part-time. It’d be cool to have father and son at that same campus.”
