Steven Perfect, Foothill teacher of 10.5 years, emailed staff Wednesday that he will be leaving Foothill next semester.

The Spanish 2 and 3 teacher, fondly referred to as Señor Perfecto, is excited to pursue new opportunities and make new connections at Pacific High School, where he will be serving as assistant principal.

Ventura Unified school Pacific has a population of 180 students who “haven’t found success in a traditional educational setting,” according to Perfect, who currently has over 200 students.

Perfect will be leaving mid-February, he estimates.

When asked what he will miss most about Foothill, he said, “That’s easy. My two children,” who are a sophomore and freshman at Foothill.

He also said he will miss several administrators including Othelia Blackler, Liz Prado, Mary Johnson, principal Joe Bova, “and all the teachers,” especially the two foreign language teachers.

Although he will miss Foothill students and staff, he said he is excited for “moving towards project-based learning” and helping disadvantaged students succeed.

Often, Pacific students struggle with home life problems and academics, making administration difficult.

Perfect’s personal qualities made him a valuable member of the Foothill community.

“He doesn’t look just at the masses, he’ll come and speak to me about each individual student and care about them as a person,” student counselor Debbie Freeman said. “To me, that means a lot.”

Freeman thinks his caring personality will translate over well to Pacific.

“I think that since its a smaller environment, and he’s so good and perceptive at seeing what students needs are, that he’s the guy for the job,” she said.

In addition, Linda Kapala, career specialist in the multimedia center, cited his ability to naturally garner respect.

“What I first thought was, wow, he’s going to a school that typically has difficult kids,” Kapala said. “And I thought, he will do really well there because he is so steady, and consistent.”

It is unclear who will replace Perfect when he leaves.

Jenny Chang contributed to the reporting of this article.