In what experts say is an unusual move, two members of the San Diego County school board recently resigned from their positions in order to become superintendent of districts they previously ruled.
Eduardo Reyes, who was the president of the Chula Vista school board, resigned from the board on July 14 to apply for the position held by former superintendent Francisco Escobedo, who is leaving for another job.
Many community members said they hope he will be elected to the position, considering that he has served seven years with the board that will elect the new superintendent.
Last May, in the Lakeside School District, then-counselor Rhonda Taylor resigned from the board to seek the position of Superintendent Andy Johnsen. Johnsen left to lead the San Marcos Unified School District. Taylor’s former colleagues chose her from among two dozen other candidates who had run.
Reyes said he was influenced by Taylor’s displacement at Lakeside.
“Having seen how Lakeside… selected a superintendent who was a recent board member, I was inspired by the support of the community and the knowledge that a successful education administrator can make the transition from being a board administrator. to the superintendent, ”Reyes said when announcing his resignation.
The Chula Vista School Board will hold a special meeting Monday to decide how it will fill the board vacancy left by Reyes and how it will select a new superintendent.
Reyes’ resignation has caught the attention of the South Bay community because Reyes also has a high-level job in the Sweetwater Unified School District, which Chula Vista Elementary draws from. Sweetwater appointed Reyes as its chief of human resources last year, after serving as principal at San Ysidro High School.
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In recent years, Sweetwater has been embroiled in controversy, including a state audit that found that some former employees had misrepresented the district’s finances. Some community members also criticized the Sweetwater school board when it chose Moisés Aguirre, the district facilities manager who does not have an education credential, as its new superintendent to replace Karen Janney, who was fired in the wake of the state audit.
Some South Bay residents said they are concerned that the Chula Vista board will favor Reyes because it already has relationships with board members, rather than looking outside the district for the best superintendent candidate.
Some also said they are concerned that Chula Vista Elementary School, which has been praised as a high-performing school district, will go down a similar path to Sweetwater if Sweetwater leaders assume leadership of Chula Vista Elementary School.
One of the Chula Vista board of directors, Lucy Ugarte, is also a Sweetwater teacher and chair of the organizing committee for the Sweetwater Teachers Union.
“I just don’t want a Sweetwater 2.0 with” Chula Vista Elementary, said Kathleen Cheers, a Sweetwater resident and self-described advocate for education.
In an interview, Reyes said there is no overlap between Chula Vista and Sweetwater, and that if selected as superintendent, he would quit his job at Sweetwater and focus only on Chula Vista.
Reyes, who resigned from the Chula Vista board as soon as he announced that he would apply for the superintendent job, said he has not spoken with any board member about the superintendent search process.
He said his application for the Chula Vista job is no different than that of any educational leader applying for a job in any other school district in the county.
“Basically yes, I’m tossing my hat,” he said. “If it works, I will be honored and blessed. And if not, that’s fine. “
Reyes has lived in the South Bay area for about 40 years. He said he is applying for the superintendent job because Chula Vista elementary school teachers and parents encouraged him to do so.
He said he has a business degree and a doctorate in education. Before working in education, Reyes was a financial analyst in the private sector for a few years.
He said he is highly qualified to be a superintendent, with 26 years of experience working in education, including as an assistant principal, principal, program manager and district administrator.
Reyes said he did not discuss it with his fellow board members before resigning, but that he had let two of them know just before the board meeting that he would resign.
“I’m just applying and if I’m lucky enough to be interviewed, if I’m lucky enough to be hired, it would be the same as applying in any other district,” Reyes said.
One of the most important tasks of any school board is to hire the superintendent, who must carry out the board’s vision and whom the board must hold accountable.
It’s unusual, but not unprecedented, for a school board member to become superintendent of the same school district, said Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
It can sound like a good idea or a bad idea, Hess said, depending on how you look at it.
“You can tell this negative story that it’s just an inside business with your friends,” Hess said. “On the other hand, you can say, ‘Well, gosh, who better to execute on the board’s vision than someone who was on the board, has working relationships with the board, and already knows the community?”
Holly Ferrante, Lakeside school board president, said her board held community meetings to decide what qualities the new Lakeside superintendent should have. A hired consultant then assisted the board in announcing job postings, gathering applications from candidates, and arranging interviews with candidates, which were conducted behind closed doors.
Ferrante said Taylor was chosen in part because she knows the community, being a Lakeside resident and having worked there and served on the board.
Taylor was a principal at Poway Unified and had previously worked at Lakeside as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal. The Lakeside Teachers Union also supported Taylor for the superintendent job, Ferrante said.
“She knows all the participants, if you will,” he said.
When asked if Taylor had an advantage because she had already served on the board, Ferrante said: “We certainly knew her and had worked with her in the past … I think we wanted it to be fair, so I think we gave everyone a fair chance ”.
New Chula Vista Board Chair Kate Bishop, a parent advocate who was elected to the board last fall, said she was “as shocked as everyone else” by Reyes’ resignation. She said he let her know just before the board meeting that he was resigning.
Bishop said he intends to do a full and transparent search for the best possible superintendent candidate. He said Reyes will not be automatically elected.
“The fact that we have a previous board member who is qualified to do the job is interesting, but there is absolutely nothing set in stone at this point. We’re not going to say at all, oh, we’re going to name it, ”Bishop said. “We assure people that the process is going to be transparent so that everyone has an opportunity for the position.”
Rosi Martinez, president of the Chula Vista teachers union, said she was surprised by the news that Reyes was resigning and that the union did not have a particular person in mind for the board vacancy.
But the union believes Reyes would make a strong superintendent, Martinez said. He has supported the teachers union and advocated for English language learners and special education students, he said.
The teachers union also endorsed and financially supported the Reyes school board’s last campaign in 2018.
When Chula Vista district leaders wanted to reopen schools last fall, Reyes and the teachers union were on the same side, opposing it because they believed it was not safe enough to reopen. The Chula Vista Elementary School missed its opportunity to reopen at that time, per state guidelines, and didn’t open until April.
“He is very consistent in supporting anything that we bring to the board as a concern,” said Martínez de Reyes, “if we are negotiating and the district is delaying the process … He has always been in favor of moving forward and having relationships of collaboration between the district and the union ”.
The Chula Vista Board meets at the district headquarters at 84 East J Street in Chula Vista.
Escobedo will resign from his superintendent job at the end of August and will become the executive director of the National Center for Urban School Transformation, which is located at San Diego State University.
The Chula Vista School Board elected Assistant Superintendent Oscar Esquivel to serve as interim superintendent on July 14. Esquivel said Friday that he does not plan to apply for the permanent job.
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