After eight years as a San Quentin teacher and administrator, William J. Reeves has been transferred to Solano State Prison as vice principal.
Reeves started out at San Quentin as a volunteer in the Kairos religious program and took a full-time position in the Education Department in 2004. At one point he was vice principal in charge of vocational programs.
Before teaching in prison, Reeves taught students in an alternative education program. He said alternative education program students typically suffer from behavioral problems. Inside prison, students usually experience motivational problems.
“I enjoy teaching people who want to learn. That’s what the ‘R’ in CDCR is all about,” said Reeves, referring to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
As a facilitator of Academic Program Counsel, Reeves oversaw a group of prisoners who discussed educational issues and concerns at the prison. The group met once a month and produced recommendations for the administration on making the educational process work better for prisoners and staff.
“I like working with students on one level, but I also like working with teachers to help at the organizational structure of the system,” said Reeves.
After statewide funding cuts to prison education in 2010, Reeves vacated the vice principal position and returned to the classroom as a teacher in H-Unit, a change that he said he welcomed.
He could have taken a career path that would have made a rich man, Reeves said. But he knows he has a greater impact on society by helping incarcerated people receive an education.
“Follow your passion,” said Reeves, referring to how a Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford University motivated him. “The speech made me think of how I should lead my life. I thought of the last line in my favorite poem, by Robert Frost, ‘The Road Not Taken.’ ‘I took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference.’”
His last day at San Quentin was Sept. 14.
“I am not closing the door on coming back to San Quentin,” said Reeves. “However, my career path is just going in a different direction right now.”
