Anne Staffieri has been chosen as the next superintendent of the San Dieguito Union High School District in California after leading the Escondido Union High School District for the past four years. Staffieri was also superintendent of Ramona USD from 2016-19. A former high school biology and Spanish teacher, Staffieri was named superintendent of the year by the California Continuation Education Association in 2021.

In North Carolina, Dale Cole has been unanimously approved as superintendent of Brunswick County Schools. A 30-year education veteran, Cole is now superintendent of Clay County Schools and has also worked for districts in Hyde and Beaufort counties. He also was voted North Carolina’s principal of the year 2013. In Ohio, Jeff Harrison will take over as superintendent of Brecksville-Broadview Heights City Schools on Aug. 1. Harrison, who has more than 20 years of experience in education, is currently the superintendent of Buckeye Local Schools.

Finally, in the Northwest, Superintendent Kim Spacek is moving from the 200-student Inchelium School District No. 70 in Washington to Mountain View School District 244 in Idaho, the Idaho County Free Press reports.

First-time superintendents take charge

Among the notable first-timers is Suzanne Johnson, who has been selected as the next superintendent of School District U-46, the second-largest in Illinois. Johnson had served five years as the suburban Chicago district’s deputy superintendent of instruction before being named interim superintendent in February.

In North Carolina, Major Warner will replace 10-year veteran David Jeck as superintendent of Fauquier County Public Schools in Virginia. Warner, who is now deputy superintendent, helped increase graduation rates and mentor principals and staff as Fauquier County’s chief academic officer. Warner began his career as a school counselor.

In the same state, Nakia Hardy, a deputy superintendent in Durham Public Schools, has been chosen to lead Lexington City Schools. Hardy has previously served as chief academic officer for Guilford County Schools, the executive director for teaching and learning for Baltimore City Public Schools and the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for Rockingham County Schools.

In California, Julienne Lee was chosen to lead the Buena Park School District near Los Angeles after having served as associate superintendent of educational services at Fullerton School District, where she oversaw dual-language immersion programs in Spanish and Korean and an award-winning intervention program. Lee has also been a dual-language immersion teacher, a Response to Intervention coach, an assistant principal and a principal.

Also in California, Gilroy USD has chosen as its next superintendent Anisha Munshi, an associate superintendent of professional learning and educational progress at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Munshi began her career as an elementary school teacher and assistant principal at Gilroy USD.

More from DA: This low-profile staff position can save districts millions each year 

And in Texas, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD has made interim superintendent Alejandro Elias its permanent leader. Elias has been the principal of an early college high school and a middle school in the district.

Other recently hired first-time superintendents include:

• Nathan Black, School District of Nekoosa (Wisconsin)
• Tamara Champa, Hastings Public Schools (Minnesota)
• Lisa Fletcher, Transylvania County Schools (North Carolina)
• Consuela Girty, Cherokee Central Schools (North Carolina)
• Elizabeth Kaufman, Mill Valley School District (California)
• Rebecca Kidwell, Seekonk Public Schools (Massachusetts)
• Matthew Neighbors, Galveston ISD (Texas)
• Robert Pappalardo, Apache Junction Unified School District (Arizona)
• Dana Kriznar (interim), Duval County Public Schools (Florida)

The post Several superintendents switch as first-timers join the ranks of K12 leadership appeared first on District Administration.

Authorities did not provide any details about the criminal allegation made against Constant or the investigation, according to The Owensboro Times. Constant became Owensboro’s superintendent in 2020 and has worked for the district since 2011, having also served as assistant superintendent and chief academic officer. He has also worked for the Daviess County School District, the newspaper reported.

In West Virginia, Nicholas County Schools Superintendent Donna Burge-Tetrick resigned along with a school board member in the midst of what the Charleston Gazette-Mail described as seven years of “construction woes” that dogged efforts to recover from disastrous flooding in 2016. Coincidentally, that was the same year Burge-Tetrick was hired as superintendent.

Earlier in May, Nicholas County Schools had opened the second phase of reconstruction with a bid of $148 million, an amount that is $51 million over the funds remaining for the project, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported. The previous rebuilding phase was bogged down by disruptions that included a lawsuit between the district and state board of education in 2018, the newspaper added. Burge-Tetrick will remain on the job until June 30.

And Jason Reynolds, the superintendent of one of Arizona’s largest districts, announced that he will also step down in June, a year before his contract would have expired. Reynolds, who became Peoria Unified School District’s superintendent in 2020, was one of the first leaders to reopen classrooms to in-person learning during the COVID pandemic, according to the Arizona Republic.

The district has endured some controversy this year, notably when the school board voted 3-2 against restricting transgender students from accessing bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, the Arizona Republic reported. Reynold was previously the assistant superintendent of leadership and secondary instruction at Paradise Valley School District, also in Arizona.

More superintendents stepping down

In one of the most high-profile retirements of the last week, Superintendent Mark Henry will retire from Cypress-Fairbanks ISD in Texas in December 2023, after more than 40 years in education and 32 years as a superintendent. Henry also served as superintendent of four other districts: Milford, Collinsville, Sulphur Springs and Galena Park ISD.

More from DA: Do school districts stand a chance suing social media giants?

Leaders in a handful of other school districts have announced resignations and retirements in recent days:

• Superintendent Karling Aguilera-Fort is leaving the Oxnard School District (California) for a leadership position at San Francisco USD.
• Superintendent Kelli Bush is resigning from Elizabethtown Independent Schools (Kentucky) on July 1, The News-Enterprise reported.
• Boyd K. English, hired in 2018, is retiring from the Albertville City School System (Alabama).
• Superintendent Tim Johnson will leave the School District of Glenwood City (Wisconsin) on June 30.
• Roger Reed resigned from S&S Consolidated ISD (Texas) on May 27.

The post Kentucky superintendent suspended as two other leaders call it quits appeared first on District Administration.

The most high-profile leader to endure a no-confidence vote this spring is Superintendent Jesus Jara of Nevada’s Clark County School District, the nation’s fifth-largest school system. The Clark County Education Association, the state’s largest educators union, announced earlier this year that 75% of its members have lost confidence in Jara, who has been the district’s superintendent for five years.

“Graduation rates are suspect, proficiency levels continue to be chronically low, the disparities between our most at-risk students and everyone else continue to widen and our students are fundamentally not college or career ready upon leaving CCSD,” the union charged. In an even more recent survey, the union claims more than 70% of likely Clark County voters want Jara to be fired.

Jara also received a vote of no-confidence from an administrators union in 2019 but the school board has renewed his contract twice—including once after firing him, the Las Vegas Sun reports.

‘No confidence’ is trending

Boston-area school districts appear to be a hotbed of anti-administration activity. During contract negotiations earlier this month, the Educational Association of Worcester voted no-confidence in Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Rachel Monárrez, the school board, the city’s mayor, the city manager and the city council. The vote was taken after the school board asked mediators from the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations to help with the negotiations, according to the Telegram & Gazette. 

In a near-unanimous vote, members of the teachers union in Holliston Public Schools last week voted no-confidence in Superintendent Susan Kustka for “failure to provide a supportive work environment” where educators feel safe and can flourish, according to AFT Massachusetts. The union says Kustka has not given teachers a decision-making role or been able to reverse Holliston’s high rate of teacher turnover. The district, which has 375 staff positions, has had 216 new staff members in the past two-and-a-half years, AFT Massachusetts asserts.

Also in the midst of contract negotiations, nearly 95% of the members of the Wellesley Educators Association voted no-confidence in Wellesley Public Schools Superintendent David Lussier and the district’s school board. The union took action in March when the school board recommended going into mediation even though teachers had already made some concessions, The Boston Globe reported. Earlier this month, however, the union reached a tentative contract agreement with the district.

As we celebrate our tentative agreement with the Wellesley School Committee, and continue to work to conclude an especially challenging school year, here are a few things won through the WEA's continued solidarity for 14 months. #fairfive #unionsolidarity pic.twitter.com/SAdyEGXfY3

— WEA (@WEAunion) May 13, 2023

The unions representing teachers at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School and Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District have all voted no-confidence in their superintendents, according to local reports. Assabet Valley’s teachers have been working without a contract for the past two-and-a-half years, MetroWest Daily News reported, while Superintendent Kathleen Dawson of the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District has been put on administrative leave, according to YourArlington.com.

More from DA: A surprise firing and 2 suspensions mark ongoing shuffle of K12 leadership

And in Salem, Massachusetts, it’s parents who are urging the school board to hold a no-confidence vote on Superintendent Margarita Ruiz.

Three unions—representing teachers, principals and supervisors—voted no-confidence in Superintendent Rachel Goldberg of Springfield Public Schools in New Jersey, TAPintoSpringfield reported. The trio of organizations argues that spending and staffing have been cut and schedules have been changed without sufficient input from district employees, according to the website.

No-confidence votes aren’t only the product of testy contract negotiations and financial constraints. In Ohio’s Orange City School District, the teachers union voted no-confidence in Superintendent Lynn Campbell and the administrative team due to safety concerns, including when some sections of the district’s high school were not notified when the building went into lockdown recently, Fox 8 News reported.

The post Why your fellow superintendents are facing more no-confidence votes appeared first on District Administration.

Escambia County Public Schools Superintendent Tim Smith, described by a local newspaper as “embattled,” will leave his post at the end of May after an unexpected vote by the district’s school board last week. The board member who led the charge in Smith’s dismissal criticized the superintendent’s leadership of principals and other administrators, which the board member said has caused high turnover, the Pensacola News Journal reported.

Smith’s most recent evaluation from the board was overwhelmingly positive, the News Journal added. Earlier this year, however, the area’s representative in the Florida state legislature called on Smith to resign, calling him ineffective and criticizing his decision to deny a school board member’s request to ban a group of LGBTQ-themed books from district libraries. The board eventually removed those books anyway and was sued last week by parents, authors and the nation’s largest publishing company.

Leadership shuffle suspensions

Districts in South Carolina and Michigan have suspended their superintendents within the last several days. The Colleton County School District’s board placed Superintendent Vallerie Cave on administrative leave by a 4-3 vote as it “investigates information,” Live 5 News reported. The board of the South Carolina school system has had Cave’s employment on its agenda since last summer, the station added.

In Michigan, Dearborn Heights School District #7 has suspended Superintendent Tyrone Weeks, another leader who has been described as “embattled” by local media. The board has not explained the decision but Weeks has faced protests recently over the suspension of a popular high school principal and the creation of a virtual learning program without teacher input, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Veterans find new districts

Several superintendents are switching places, including Joseph Hochreiter, who has been named the next superintendent of The City School District of Albany in New York after leading two other districts in the state, the Elmira City School District and the Hendrick Hudson Central School District since 2009. Outside New York City, Raymond Sanchez has been named superintendent of Public Schools of the Tarrytowns after having served the Ossining Union Free School District since 2013.

More from DA: Teacher morale has not totally tanked. And here are 5 ways to rebuild it.

In Mississippi, Superintendent Josh Perkins is moving to Neshoba County School District from the Enterprise School District. And in North Carolina, Marc Whichard will take the reins at Wayne County Public Schools after having led Whiteville City Schools since 2019.

More comings and goings

Hires

• Milton Batiste, III, St. Landry Parish School District (Louisiana)
• Rick Cruz, Asheville City Schools (North Carolina)
• Ashlie Adams Flowers, Clarke County Schools (Alabama)
• Jeffrey Hartmann, Galion City Schools (Ohio)
• Brad Hatch, Altoona Area School District (Pennsylvania)
• Joshua W. Lynch, Macon County Schools (North Carolina)
• Todd R. Meyer, Olentangy Schools (Ohio)
• Jennifer O’Neill, Norton Public Schools (Massachusetts)
• Robert Sanders, Hinds County School District (Mississippi)
• Stan Winborne, Granville County Public Schools (North Carolina)
• Jason Wysong, School District of Manatee County (Florida)

Departures

• Greg Ross has resigned as superintendent of Danville Independent Schools (Kentucky) after one school year.

The post A surprise firing and 2 suspensions mark ongoing shuffle of K12 leadership appeared first on District Administration.

The urban Massachusetts district’s FY24 budget proposal provides for newly funded teacher positions that include 10 English language teachers, 31 teachers and professional staff to assist students with disabilities, 20 wraparound coordinators and 14 middle and high school teachers to meet enrollment increases and course offering needs, Superintendent Rachel H. Monárrez says.

Worcester’s $552 million spending plan would also maintain more than 600 elementary-level teachers to set student-teacher ratios at 19.7 to 1 in 2023-24. District spending would increase by $28.4 million, or 5.4%, compared to FY23’s $523.6 million budget. The district has received in $122.4 million in ESSER relief funds and $90 million in Student Opportunity Act funding.

“This level of financial support will allow the district to focus on expanding learning opportunities, improving wraparound services for students’ social-emotional and physical health, increasing and improving professional development, purchasing curriculum materials and equipment, investing in school facilities and school safety, and expanding early education and prekindergarten programs within the district,” Monárrez says.

School layoffs are accelerating as declining enrollment, failed levies and other financial pressures are piling on top of administrations already facing the expiration of ESSER relief funds. Worcester’s plans represent a stark contrast to the financial binds district leaders find themselves in elsewhere—even in the same state. Not far away, an $18 budget million deficit—caused in part by an enrollment drop of about 1,350 students since the beginning of the COVID pandemic—has forced officials in Brockton Public Schools to eliminate 130 certified positions, WCVB reported.

Worcester, meanwhile, is also adding positions around and outside the classroom including:

• Two human resources directors to focus on recruitment, retention, and professional development
• Four instructional coaches to support diversity, equity, and inclusion
• A director of school climate and culture
• Three counselors to achieve an approximate 250:1 student-to-counselor ratio throughout the district.
• Five school psychologist positions to assist with workload balances.
• Two school nurse positions and two certified nursing assistants
• 10 middle school athletic coach positions to provide students with additional sports opportunities.
• Four deans of students at the district’s high schools.

More from DA: 3 big districts make big hires to fill superintendents’ posts

At least one other district, the Utica City School District in New York, is creating new positions in its budget. Under the yet-to-be-approved spending plan, leaders would hire 94 new teachers, social workers and assistant principals, among other positions, the Observer-Dispatch reported.

The district intends to add six social workers, bringing its total to 29, six assistant principals, three deans of students at its elementary schools, a director of English as a new language, a career-and-technical-education curriculum administrator, and dozens of special education positions.

The post These district leaders intend to add 75 teachers as layoffs hit elsewhere appeared first on District Administration.

And with ESSER relief funds expiring next year, the specter of layoffs and budget cuts are only adding more anxiety to a K12 environment fraught with a rise in student misbehavior and other safety concerns. Not surprisingly, then, administrators focused on teacher retention will find some conflicting sentiments from the educators who participated in the influential Merrimack College Teacher Survey that was released this week.

For example, the percentage of teachers who report being “very satisfied” with their jobs has nearly doubled from last year (it’s up to 20%) but less than half said they would recommend teaching as a career to their younger selves. More teachers feel respected by the public compared to last year’s poll but more than a third are considering leaving the profession within the next two years. On the bright side, that number dropped from the 44% who said in the 2022 poll that they were thinking about leaving.

“While this should serve as a flashing red light to educational policymakers, the survey also provides insights into strategies that educational administrators and policymakers can employ to address this,” said Dean Deborah Margolis of Merrimack’s Winston School of Education and Social Policy. “By prioritizing teacher mental health and well-being and taking steps to build teacher morale, academic leaders can help create a healthier and happier school environment and retain more of their teachers.”

About one in three of the teachers surveyed acknowledge receiving mental health and wellness support from their principals. However, only one in 10 of the teachers who admitted that mental health is having a major impact on their work said the same.

Making headway on teacher morale

Here are the top five steps that teachers recommend administrators take to improve the work environment in schools:

1. A pay raise or bonus to reduce financial stress (67%)
2. Smaller class sizes (62%)
3. More/better support for student discipline-related issues (62%)
4. Fewer administrative burdens associated with meetings and paperwork (57%)
5. More acknowledgment of good work/hard work/successes (54%)

And here are some more details on just how and where administrators can make some morale-boosting changes. First of all, teachers who have more autonomy over their work tend to be more satisfied, the survey points out.

More from DA: What’s driving K12 staff layoffs? It’s much more than expiring ESSER funds

Teachers in this year’s poll said they continue to have a lot of autonomy over pedagogy, the curriculum, student assessments and classroom management. But they feel they have much less control over school policy or their own schedule, including when they have to take on additional duties such as supervising recess.

Further down the list of steps for improving teachers’ mental wellness are more para-professionals to assist teachers in the classroom, stronger support when parents make demands, time and space to step away from the classroom to distress, and more opportunities to exercise and healthily during the school day.

Finally, teachers had some strong opinions about what administrators should learn in graduate programs about supporting staff. At the top of the list was understanding and supporting teachers, followed by more flexible schedules, time off and wellness programs.

The post Teacher morale has not totally tanked. Here are 5 ways to boost it. appeared first on District Administration.

The largest of the districts, Baltimore County Public Schools, chose Myriam Yarbrough on Tuesday as its next superintendent. Yarbrough, who is now the district’s deputy superintendent, began her education career as a chemistry teacher in Baltimore County in 1996.

As deputy superintendent, Yarbrough oversees the implementation of the strategies and initiatives identified in the district’s strategic plan, The Compass. She has also served as the district’s chief of organizational effectiveness, executive director for secondary schools in the West Zone, and director of school performance. She was also the principal of Francis Scott Key Middle School and Paint Branch High School in Montgomery County Public Schools, also in Maryland.

“My educational career began at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County more than 26 years ago and now, as deputy superintendent, it has been my mission to listen and to learn from our students, staff, and stakeholders that are the foundation of this school system, and to lead and empower teams to remove barriers to student success,” Yarbrough said in a statement.

Also on Tuesday, interim superintendent Angela Chapman was been promoted to permanent superintendent and CEO of Ohio’s largest school district, Columbus City Schools. Chapman will replace Talisa Dixon, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

Chapman joined Columbus City Schools in June 2019 as the chief of transformation and leadership, the member of the superintendent’s cabinet in charge of principal leadership and development, and the regional support of school communities. Among her priorities were school improvement, the administration of grant funds to support effective teaching and learning, and helping to establish a new six-region district model.

She had previously spent five years as an instructional superintendent and interim chief of elementary at the District of Columbia Public Schools. Before that served as the director of curriculum for Massillon City Schools in Ohio and as a principal in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District, where she began her education career as an elementary school teacher.

“Dr. Chapman exhibits the character and determination needed to uplift the great work of Columbus City Schools while addressing the challenges of the state’s largest school district and ensuring the best academic and personal outcomes for our students,” Christina Vera, vice president of the board of education and co-leader of the search process, said in a statement.

More from DA: What’s driving K12 staff layoffs? It’s much more than expiring ESSER funds

Ian Roberts, the current leader of a Pennsylvania district who competed in track and field in the 2000 Olympics, has been named superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, the largest district in Iowa. Roberts, a lifelong educator, is now the superintendent of Millcreek Township School District in northwest Pennsylvania.

Roberts, who will become Des Moines’ first leader of color, has served as a chief schools officer, superintendent of secondary schools, principal, and senior vice president of a charter management organization. He has led schools in large and mid-sized cities, including Washington D.C., Baltimore and St. Louis. “Dr. Roberts’ focus on creating equitable experiences for students to thrive, paired with his commitment to continuous improvement, creates an exciting opportunity for our students, staff and community,” Des Moines Public Schools Board Chair Teree Caldwell-Johnson said in a statement.

Roberts replaces longtime Des Moines superintendent Thomas Ahart, who resigned at the end of the 2021-22 school year and was among six finalists for the superintendent’s post in Columbus City Schools.

The post 3 big districts make big hires to fill superintendents’ posts appeared first on District Administration.

Superintendents and their teams are making tough choices—and tough announcements to their communities— as they finalize 2023-24 spending plans that they say can only be balanced with, in some cases, substantial staff reductions. In Washington, the Marysville School District conducted its first round of teacher and staff layoffs on Monday, notifying a few dozen employees that their jobs will end along with the 2022-23 school year.

Marysville’s leaders said they have already “reduced district-level administration,” trimmed educational programs and frozen spending in most areas as the district grapples with declining enrollment, inadequate state funding, failure to pass a levy in 2022, and the end of ESSER funding. Further reductions will likely mean larger class sizes and fewer elective courses, among other impacts, the district said in a message to the community.

“The district’s goal is to be fully transparent in this process,” Director of Communications Jodi Runyon said. “To this end, the district has conferred with bargaining groups to provide information on the state of the budget. The district updates families, staff, and the community as new information becomes available.”

In a bit of good-ish news, voters in Bozeman, Montana approved three levies that will reduce the number of layoffs the local school district will have to make to balance its budget, NBC Montana reported. The Bozeman School District will still have to cut about 20 teaching positions as it trims $4.1 million from its spending plan, Superintendent Casey Bertram told the station.

The sting of staff layoffs

On the opposite coast, the Vernon Township School District in New Jersey is laying 45 full-time staff—most of which are teachers—to cover a budget shortfall made worse by $8.5 million in state aid reductions in recent years, News12 reported. And officials in Brockton Public Schools in Massachusetts say an $18 million deficit forced them to eliminate 130 certified positions. The district, which issued layoff notices on Monday, has seen enrollment drop by about 1,350 students since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, WCVB reported.

More from DA: Sexist comments sink one superintendent during a week of high-profile hires 

Non-certified staff will be laid off in the coming days. “While we are confident that our five-year district improvement process will encourage new families to move to Brockton, unfortunately, our current enrollment does not support existing staffing levels,” Superintendent Michael Thomas said in a statement to WCVB. “This is in no way a reflection of the incredible work that our educators do every day.”

And in Detroit, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti says layoffs coming ahead of the 2023-24 school year will mainly impact central office administrators and temporary employees. Detroit Public Schools Community District is cutting COVID-specific positions such as nurses who administered free coronavirus tests during the pandemic, Vitti told Michigan Radio.

“The day-to-day learning and teaching experience of teachers and students will not change,” Vitti told the station. “And that’s intentional because the core of what we do happens in the classroom. And the core of what we do is about raising student achievement.”

The post What’s driving K12 staff layoffs? It’s much more than expiring ESSER funds appeared first on District Administration.

At the April 26 event, longtime educator Jerry Gibson said: “The ladies are the worker bees; they are going to get it done behind the scenes and keep pushing and take care of the details,” according to The Galveston County Daily News.

“Isn’t that right, men? They do their best to make us look good even though we don’t give them much to work with. But we need a man to push this through,” he was quoted as saying.

Prior to being hired in Galveston in 2021, Gibson had been superintendent in two other Texas districts, Marshall ISD and Coldspring-Oakhurst Consolidated ISD. He has also worked as a principal, teacher, coach and athletic director. Gibson, who will receive a $70,000 severance package, was criticized by the school board earlier this year for not notifying members when he interviewed for two superintendent posts in Florida—even though he had no obligation to tell them about his job search, Houston Public Media reported.

Unwelcome behavior at a school event also led to the departure of the superintendent of the Beekmantown Central School District in upstate New York this week. Daniel Mannix announced his resignation last week, a few months after he was placed on leave for reportedly yelling at players and referees during a basketball game between two high schools from outside his district, according to the Press-Republican. Mannix, who had led Beekmantown CSD for 10 years, was called out after the game on social media by one of the high school’s principals.

High-profile posts filled

Warren Morgan is among several administrators moving into big-district leadership posts. Morgan, now the chief academic officer at Indianapolis Public Schools, has been named the next CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Morgan has also worked as a principal and teacher in districts in Chicago and St. Louis.

In Virginia, Melanie Kay-Wyatt has been promoted from interim to permanent superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools. Kay-Wyatt was the district’s chief of human resources before being tapped as the interim superintendent in 2022. She has also been an educator in several other Virginia districts.

Arlington ISD in Texas has unanimously chosen Michelle Cavazos as the lone finalist for its superintendent’s post. Cavazos, who is not related to the district’s current superintendent, Marcelo Cavazos, is currently the superintendent for Gregory-Portland ISD, also in Texas. She was previously an administrator at Austin ISD and she has 16 years of experience as a principal in elementary, middle and high schools.

Elizabeth Grant, currently a professor at The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and formerly a U.S. Department of Education senior policy advisor, will take over as superintendent in the Salt Lake City School District on July 1. Grant previously served as a principal and assistant principal in Salt Lake City schools.

Finally, Kalamazoo Public Schools in Michigan has picked Darrin Slade as its next superintendent. Slade is now the deputy superintendent of the Hazelwood Public School District in Missouri and has 30 years of experience in education. He was previously the assistant superintendent of instructional leadership for Kansas City Public Schools, where he supervised principals, instructional programming, school climate and strategic planning.

More arrivals and departures

Hires

• Christopher Barnard, Manchester-Shortsville Central School District (New York)
• Wendy Dau Provo City School District (Utah)
• Craig Jernagan, Maconaquah School Corporation (Indiana)
• Michael Lindsey, Ocean Springs School District (Mississippi)
• Todd McKee, Cache County School District (Utah)
• Jeanette Rodriguez-Chien, Sonoma Valley USD (California)
• Barbara Sargent, West Morris Regional High School District (New Jersey)
• Janet L. Sherrod, Phenix City Schools (Alabama)
• Mark Vianello, Charlotte County Public Schools (Florida)

Departures

• Rich Beran resigned from Gretna Public Schools (Nebraska) over differences with the school board, KETV.com reported.
• Superintendent Mark Henry will retire from Cypress-Fairbanks ISD (texas) on Dec. 31.
• Lisa Jackson is retiring from Pamlico County Schools (North Carolina) on Sept. 1, according to the Sun Journal. 
• John Regan resigned as superintendent of Atwater Cosmos Grove City Public Schools (Minnesota).

More from DA: Many teachers no longer feel safe. Here’s what they want from their district leaders

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The strike, which began May 4, sought pay increases and increased focus on homelessness, environmental issues and much-needed upgrades to school facilities. The district’s 80 schools have been open since then offering meals and child supervision, but nearly 1,200 students opted to show up, CBS News reports.

On Friday, Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell asked the union to put an end to the strikes over fears that high school students’ graduation would be affected.

“There are just nine school days left in the school year and our first graduation ceremony for Oakland High School is scheduled to happen on May 22,” she said in a recorded statement to the community. “Without final grades, seniors may not be able to fully demonstrate that they qualify for admission, and, in some cases, their college admissions and financial aid could be at risk.”

More from DA: ESSER endgame: What 7 districts plan to fund and what leaders might cut

Saturday evening, the union announced it had reached an agreement with the district on four “common good” topics, which include “Black Thriving Community Schools,” its “Community Schools Grant,” “Housing and Transportations” and “School Closures.”

The union, however, called upon the district to produce an “accurate document that reflects the agreement that we reached with the district” by 11 p.m. Sunday, or else the strike would continue. Now that an attentive agreement has been made, the union said that students will return to class on Tuesday, just six days before the district’s first graduation ceremony.

“Our collective power forced OUSD to commit to living wages for educators, more resources in our schools, enforceable working conditions and common good issues for our students and their families,” the union said in a Facebook post.

The 2.5-year agreement calls for a 15.5% salary increase for most teachers with an even larger bump for those at the bottom of the pay scale. It also includes retroactive pay and stipends for bilingual educators.

The OEA strike comes off the heels of the three-day strike in the Los Angeles Unified School District in March, which kept more than 400,000 students out of school as district workers fought for substantial wage increases.

Oakland teachers are awaiting votes from its full membership before agreements are ratified.

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