Pali High’s New Assistant Principal Brian Banducci Shares Local Ties

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When he arrived on campus a few weeks ago to begin his tenure as assistant principal and director of student activities, athletics and discipline at Palisades Charter High School, Brian Banducci could not help feeling a tad nostalgic.

As a youngster he skateboarded in the student parking lot and even learned to ride a bike in the halls of the school while he was living on Hartzell in the Alphabet Streets. His family moved to Malibu near Zuma Beach in the summer before he started third grade, but Banducci still has fond memories of his days in the Palisades.

“I remember being in the Palisadian-Post … we were cutting ivy off of a tree in our neighborhood,” he said. “This is a special community, the standards at the school are high and I’m very excited to come back. I grasp the proud history and legacy of athletic and academic success this school has had, and my challenge is to lift us out of that difficult period of stress and adversity caused by the pandemic.”

Banducci, officially hired July 1 to replace longtime Assistant Principal (and Pali High graduate) Russ Howard, carries with him more than 30 years of experience as an educator, coach and administrator in public, private and charter school environments.

He comes to Pali High after a one-year stint as assistant principal at Thousand Oaks High School.

Having grown up on the Westside, Banducci shared that he knows the lay of the land and hopes that it translates into positives in his new role. He played football, baseball and wrestled at Santa Monica High School, where he graduated in 1986.

“Malibu High hadn’t been built yet, so the closest school in our district at the time was Samo,” Banducci recalled. “We played Pali in the Rotary Bowl every year at SMC or their stadium, and that was a huge rivalry back then.”

Banducci made the LA Times’ All-Area Football Team as an outside linebacker and led the Vikings to the CIF Finals against Ventura. In wrestling, he participated in the Southern Section Masters Meet—hardly a surprise considering he comes from an athletic family. His grandfather, Bruno, was an All-American at Stanford and played for the San Francisco 49ers; his dad, Russ, was an All-American at UCLA; his brother, Eric, played football at UCLA; and his sister, Amy, was women’s volleyball captain at the University of Oregon. Banducci himself was invited as a Division I football walk-on at the University of Pacific.

Banducci lives in Agoura Hills with his wife Nicole and their three daughters—Kira, a student at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Washington; Sofia, a high school senior-to-be enrolled in an online school; and 7-year-old Cora, who is going into third grade at Malibu Elementary School.

“One priority right off the bat is finding a replacement for [outgoing athletic director John Achen] and, in fact, interviews concluded on Tuesday,” Banducci said. “As you might imagine, my mornings have been consumed with staff meetings and getting to know people.”

Banducci was the athletic director at Malibu High for four years and worked at Crespi in Encino. He has had various roles, including dean and vice principal, over the decades.

He went to New York state to coach and teach for a few years (he has coached football, volleyball, wrestling and lacrosse) before eventually returning to his Southern California roots.

“When I saw the Pali position posted, it called to me because the job description required someone who can wear lots of hats and has a variety of skill sets, and it fits my experience to a T,” Banducci said. “It was things I’ve been doing all along, and I feel like this is the right place to be. In one way, it’s like a homecoming.”