Jeremy Packman has spent 25 years inside California public education, moving from AmeriCorps service and middle school history classrooms to administrative roles focused on student services and special education systems. His work emphasizes structure, legal clarity, and the belief that most school challenges stem not from lack of care, but from gaps in operational design.
In 2020, during the first months of the pandemic, Abbott Middle School in San Mateo faced the same uncertainty as every other school in California. Jeremy Packman, who had been principal there for less than a year, found himself managing a crisis with no blueprint. Families needed clarity. Teachers needed direction. Students with IEPs needed continuity of services in an environment where nothing felt continuous. Mr. Packman leaned on a principle he had carried through years of leadership: when uncertainty is high, communication should be frequent. He held regular virtual town halls, created detailed, weekly-updated FAQ documents, and worked with his team to ensure that service minutes and accommodations translated to the remote environment. It was far from a perfect transition, but through the hard work of his staff, student learning was continuous.
Packman describes his approach as operational rather than flashy. He has spent over two decades building the structures that enable schools to function day-to-day, particularly for students whose needs are not met by standard instruction. His career has taken him through Oakland, San Lorenzo, San Mateo, Antioch, and Santa Rosa. Each stop involved working with diverse communities, often under high-stress conditions, always with attention to the regulatory and procedural frameworks that protect students.
From Long Island to the Canal District
Jeremy Packman grew up in East Meadow, New York, in what he describes as a relatively segregated area. His mother was an elementary school teacher. His father worked as an executive at a major clothing manufacturer in Manhattan. He attended Towson University in Maryland, earning a degree in Mass Communication with a specialty in film and video production in 2001. After graduation, he moved to California and joined AmeriCorps through the Bay Area Youth Agency Consortium. He was placed at San Pedro Elementary School in San Rafael’s Canal District, tutoring students in literacy.
That year changed how he understood education. The Canal District served largely immigrant families, wihere many students were English learners. The gaps in support were visible. Packman describes the experience as his re-education. Growing up in a relatively segregated area, he states, he never truly understood the experiences of marginalized communities and the importance of addressing those experiences in an equitable manner. After his AmeriCorps term, he worked as a substitute teacher in Berkeley Unified School District. Within three months, he was asked to take a long-term assignment teaching computer classes at Willard Middle School in Berkeley.. He earned his teaching credential from Patten University and became a full-time history teacher at Elmhurst Middle School in East Oakland in 2004.
Eight Years in East Oakland
Elmhurst Middle School, later renamed Elmhurst Community Prep, is a comprehensive middle school in the heart of East Oakland, California. He taught middle school history and worked tirelessly to make his instruction engaging, incorporating student choice and fostering critical thinking. He believed that when instruction was engaging, fewer students misbehaved due to fear of missing out. In his final year, he served as Coordinator of Extended Learning Programs, overseeing an extended learning program that served 350 students as part of his school’s School Improvement grant. This was his first foray into program leadership and provided him with insight into systems work: timelines, documentation, and compliance.
During this period, Packman pursued a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from California State University, East Bay, with a focus on culturally responsive methodologies. He completed the program in 2011 and moved into school administration the following year.
The Move Into Leadership
Packman’s first administrative role was Assistant Principal at Montera Middle School in Oakland. The transition from classroom teacher to administrator required a shift in perspective. He was no longer responsible for one classroom. He was responsible for systems that affected every classroom. He spent two years at Montera before moving to Bohannon Middle School in San Lorenzo, where he served as Assistant Principal for five years. His focus was student services, particularly special education and Multi-Tiered System of Supports.
MTSS is a framework for organizing academic and behavioral interventions in tiers. Tier 1 is universal instruction for all students. Tier 2 is a targeted intervention for students who need additional support. Tier 3 is intensive intervention for students with the highest needs. Packman argues that most schools do not have a behavior problem but a system problem. Kids often fall through the gaps due to poor identification. When MTSS is implemented with fidelity, students receive the right level of support at the right time. When it is not, students cycle through discipline and disengagement.
Principalship and Pandemic
In 2019, Mr. Packman became Principal at Abbott Middle School in San Mateo. The school served a diverse student body, including a significant number of students receiving special education services. Packman worked to tighten systems around IEP compliance, ensuring that services listed in the IEP matched what students actually received. He emphasizes that if services in the IEP do not match what the student actually receives, or address the goals listed, the system is not working. Clarity protects students.
The pandemic hit in March 2020. Schools closed. Packman and his team had to redesign service delivery overnight. They held IEP meetings over Zoom. They redesigned master schedules. The experience was also an eye-opener to the inequity in education. “When our school first closed, we needed to assess which of our families needed Chromebooks and/or wifi in their homes. Without this, virtual learning would be an impossible venture”, Packman reflected. His staff had to find more creative ways to track engagement and increase professional learning for staff who were not tech-savvy.
There was also the challenge of communicating with families who were torn between wanting schools to reopen and those afraid to send their students anywhere. “It was a very scary time for us all, and we would have been in worse shape if it hadn’t been for everyone stepping up”, Packman remembered. This included district leadership, who provided their principal’s with technology and systems support, which helped lighten the heavy load. Packman held town halls, answered parent emails late into the evening, and worked with teachers to adapt the curriculum. The period tested every system in place. Some held. Some did not. Packman left Abbott in June 2021 and moved back to an assistant principal role.
Advocacy and Consulting
In July 2023, Packman launched JP Educational Consulting LLC. The consultancy supports families navigating special education systems. He provides consultation and representation in IEP, 504, SST, SART, and SARB meetings. He works with families whose students are struggling academically or behaviorally, ensuring that accommodations and modifications are utilized effectively. He also represents students during disciplinary meetings, including suspension and expulsion proceedings.
Packman describes the work as an extension of his administrative work. Special education is highly regulated for a reason, he states. If systems are not tight, students fall through gaps. His job has always been to reduce those gaps. He has published an open letter to families navigating special education systems, addressing the challenges they face in understanding IEP processes, service delivery, and their rights. He has also called for stronger, clearer special education systems in California schools, emphasizing that confusion, inconsistency, and unclear processes impact students and families.
Current Role and Future Direction
In July 2025, Packman took a position as Administrator on Special Assignment with Santa Rosa City School District. The role involves shaping the site-level vision by clarifying priorities for student services, compliance, and instructional stability. He continues to run his consulting practice remotely. He is also exploring educational technology, viewing it as a natural next step in a career that has always been about systems and structure.
In addition, Jeremy Packman has taught US citizenship classes to immigrants at San Lorenzo and finds work-life balance by playing live music. His career has been shaped by persistence, patience, and what he calls a strong growth mindset. He acknowledges that this mindset is a hard thing to sell to people who are afraid of change. He also acknowledges loss. His older brother, Josh, who was a close influence, passed away at 40 years old. Mr. Packman states that there will never be a way to overcome the loss of family, though it serves as a constant reminder to focus on what is important and what one can control.
The Structure That Protects
Jeremy Packman has spent 25 years inside California public education. He has taught middle school history, coordinated after-school programs, led schools through crisis, and represented families in IEP meetings. His career is a study in how systems work when built with care and how they fail when not. He continues to work in Santa Rosa, consult with families, and advocate for the clarity students need to receive what they need. The work is slow. The stakes are high. The systems, when built right, hold.
