Director of Security Manny Fernandez, known for his unique combination of toughness and congeniality, announced Tuesday that today would be his last day at Shalhevet and he is going back to working security in the private sector.

In an interview with the Boiling Point, Mr. Fernandez, who has worked at Shalhevet for one-and-a-half years and is known to students and faculty as “Manny,” said he will be looking for a job with private companies or individuals.

“In reality it’s just something I had to do for myself, for my career, and for my family as well,” Mr. Fernandez said. “It was completely my decision and [the school] didn’t have anything to do with it.  I’ll be working in the private sector, and that’s all I want to say right now.”

He said he had a particular offer and that was the reason for the quickness of his departure.

During his tenure as Director of Security, Mr. Fernandez helped establish a safety system for the school’s operations at the JCC last year, and created an even safer atmosphere in the new building. To prepare the newly built classrooms in an event of an emergency, Mr. Fernandez installed door stoppers that would lock and secure most classroom doors, and he installed blackout shades for classroom windows so it would be impossible to see in from the outside.

But he considers his biggest accomplishment to be the relationships he had with the students and faculty.

Senior Derek Orenshein said he and Mr. Fernandez had become close.

“I’m really sad,” said Derek. “This morning when I found out he was leaving, I ran over to him and gave him a hug. Every morning when I go to school and I see Manny sitting in the booth [at the entrance to school] I have little inside jokes with him.”

Derek said Mr. Fernandez’s friendly presence and physicality made him feel safe.

“Last year when we were at the JCC I would always see him in the morning and we would have a little handshake,” Derek said. 

Mr. Fernandez’s morning greetings as he opened the huge metals gates to the driveway seemed to have made an impression on everyone.

“Manny’s the man,” said Judaic Studies teacher Rabbi Ari Schwarzberg. “Since he’s been here, he has been a great face for all of us to see when we are greeted every morning as we come into the building.”

Rabbi Schwarzberg, who also runs the Shalhevet Institute, said that Mr. Fernandez has helped with program security needs.

“For me personally, he is very helpful with our Shalhevet Institute programming and security and facility needs and he’s been someone who has brought a lot of energy into the building,” Rabbi Schwarzberg said. “We’ll miss him a lot.”

Mr. Fernandez said the safety of the school would remain the same, noting that security guard Walter Morales is very well trained

“Walter and the staff are beyond capable of doing what I was doing, so you guys are in good hands,” Mr. Fernandez said.

But he said he wished he could have improved the emergency preparedness system and training.

“I think [there should be] more training for everybody, the students and staff,” he said. “I don’t think we were able to touch on that as much as I wanted to while I was here.”

Mr. Fernandez said students were welcome to stay in touch with him after he leaves, and he did not rule out possibly returning to the Shalhevet security team in the future.

“Never say never — you never know what is going to happen, and I’ll just leave it at that,” Mr. Fernandez said.

He said he would miss the students the most.

“Even though it was just a year and a half, it was a lot,” Mr. Fernandez said in an interview Wednesday. “The bigger memories are with the students, seeing them everyday, saying ‘hi’ in the morning and saying ‘bye’ in the afternoon. That is the biggest part of the school — the students, seeing all their different faces and smiles everyday.”

As for what he’ll miss the least, Mr. Fernandez said he is glad he will not have to face the Los Angeles traffic on his way home to Orange County each day.

“Thank you to the students of the school, staff, everybody for their generosity and their hearts that they opened up to me,” Mr. Fernandez said. “It was an honor and a privilege to be here. I am very grateful and I am going to miss everybody very much.”

Head of School Rabbi Ari Segal said the school would miss him as well.

“Manny has been an incredible asset to our school, especially with our move to our new facility,” Rabbi Segal said in an e-mail to the Boiling Point. “He genuinely became a part of the Shalhevet family. We will miss him dearly both on a professional level and on a personal level.”