This is Talk Sup – a podcast that listens to superintendents. We connect superintendents to their communities by listening to their priorities, challenges, and what motivates them personally.
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Monica is a 20-year veteran public radio reporter and the founder of Listenwise, an award winning tool for middle and high school students. Listenwise uses public radio to build and assess students’ critical listening skills to prepare them for the CAASPP and ELPAC. Get a free 30-day trial at Listenwise.com.
Interested in highlighting your superintendent? Email us their name and contact information and tell us
what they are doing in your district. We look forward to hearing from
you and sharing your stories!
Dr. Angelica M. Ramsey has served as the Superintendent of Schools for the Pleasant Valley School District since July 2016. Under her leadership, PVSD created and published a three-year strategic plan entitled Vision 2020: Excellence for All. The plan outlined newly formulated goals, articulated commitments aligned to LCAP priorities, and identified specific strategies to meet goals. Dr. Ramsey holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of the Pacific, a master’s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso, an educational specialist degree in teaching and learning from Liberty University, and a doctorate of education in educational leadership from Liberty University.
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Dr. Katie McNamara has served as the Superintendent of the South Bay
Union School District since July 2013. Prior to her appointment,
Dr. McNamara served as the Assistant Superintendent of Instructional
Services in the Solana Beach School District and as a Principal in
the Del Mar Union School District. She began her teaching career
in 1986 in the Riverside Unified School District where she worked
for fifteen years as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal
at both the elementary and middle school levels. Dr. McNamara has
held leadership positions on several education-related organizations,
including the Association of California School Administrators. Her
positions have included Vice President of Legislative Action and
Co-Chair of the statewide Superintendency Council. In 2018, she was
named Region 18 Superintendent of the Year by the Association of
California School Administrators.
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Denise Coleman has served as the Superintendent of Union School District
in San Jose since 2015. The district runs six elementary schools
and two middle schools and serves 5,900 students in San Jose and
Los Gatos. Prior, she worked for 24 years in the neighboring Moreland
School District, where she was assistant superintendent of educational
services for six years. She also worked as an assistant superintendent
of human resources, director in business, principal, and teacher
in Moreland, giving her an extensive background working in different
departments. Denise earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from
San Jose State University.
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Dr. Barbara Nemko was reelected in June, 2018 for her sixth term as
Napa County Superintendent of Schools. Barbara is passionate about
helping teachers and administrators to implement digital resources
to close the achievement gap, and has spearheaded a very successful
countywide program that put iPads in the hands of preschool English
learners. This program won the Collaboration Nation grand prize in
2015 and the ACSA Family Engagement award in 2016.
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Jerry Almendarez is superintendent of the Colton Joint Unified School
District in San Bernardino County, the same district where he grew
up. He graduated high school and began his career in education as
a math teacher before moving on to other positions including high
school principal and assistant superintendent of Human Resources
before becoming superintendent eight years ago.
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During his 35-year career in education, Dr. Martinrex Kedziora has
worked for a number of school districts in a variety of roles: He
served as a teacher at both the elementary and secondary levels,
vice principal, principal, special-education coordinator, and director
of professional development and middle-grades curriculum and instruction.
He served as Chief Academic Officer at MVUSD for six years before
being appointed Superintendent by the School Board, effective Feb.
1, 2017. Dr. Kedziora makes his home in Moreno Valley and has been
active in the community for more than 25 years.
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Dr. Winfred Roberson is the Superintendent of Glendale USD in California,
where he oversees 33 schools and more than 25,000 students. Nine
GUSD schools have earned the U.S. Office of Education’s highest designation,
the National Blue Ribbon. Additionally, 26 GUSD schools have been
recognized as California Distinguished Schools and 17 of the district’s
18 Title I schools have been named Title I Achieving Schools. GUSD
has been named an Educational Results Partnership Honor Roll District
for three consecutive years. Dr. Roberson has served in this position
since April 1, 2016. Prior to taking on this role, he served as superintendent
of the Davis Joint Unified School District for six years.
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David has worked in education for 16 years. He began his career as
a network technician at the Orange County Department of Education
and soon moved on to become the Director of Technology at a mid-sized
elementary school district. In 2012, David began work as a Chief
Business Official and in 2018, after four years with the La Mesa-Spring
Valley School District, was selected to be the district's new superintendent.
He is one of a handful of superintendents in the state to have come
from the business side of the school district, rather than the classroom.
David lives in San Diego with his wife and four children (ages eight,
six, four, and two). He believes his role as a father, more than
anything else, informs his work as a superintendent.
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Dr. Judy D. White serves as the 12th Riverside County Superintendent
of Schools. Previously, she has worked as a classified educator,
teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, deputy superintendent
in San Bernardino City Unified School District and Superintendent
of Moreno Valley Unified School District. The community calls her
a “history maker and stereotype breaker” because of the numerous
recognitions and accomplishments she has earned. To name a few, Moreno
Valley 2014 Citizen of the Year, Riverside Alumni Chapter of Kappa
Alpha Psi Fraternity 2016 Community Member of the Year, Labor Management
2015 Collaborator, and NAACP 2015 Educator of the Year. She is the
current Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region
19 Superintendent of the Year and California Association of African-American
Superintendents and Administrators (CAAASA) 2017 Superintendent of
the Year.
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Dr. Jeff Harding has served as Superintendent of the Mountain View
Los Altos School District since July 1, 2015. Previously, he was
the Superintendent for the Healdsburg Unified School District for
7 years. He began his career teaching environmental education and
mathematics. He later served as Assistant Principal at Drake High
School in Marin County and as the founding Principal of Windsor High
School where he launched the progressive integrated studies program.
As an adjunct faculty member at Sonoma State University, he helped
to prepare aspiring school principals as educational leaders.
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Mr. Terrence Davis became the new Superintendent of the Beaumont Unified
School District on July 9, 2016. Superintendent Davis joined the
Beaumont Unified School District in 2012 as the Assistant Superintendent
of Human Resources. He served as Director of Human Resources for
the Temecula Valley School District and also was Director of Special
Education for the same school district. Superintendent Davis also
was a program specialist and special education teacher in the Alvord
Unified School District. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice
from California State University, Long Beach, and a Master’s degree
in Special Education from National University.
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Dr. Mary Ann Dewan is the Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools.
She joined the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) in
October 2013 as Chief Schools Officer and then became Deputy Superintendent
since July 2015. She has served as Interim Superintendent in 2014,
and again in 2017. Dr. Dewan has over 27 years of experience in education
and is recognized for her expertise and experience in early learning,
special education, education reform, and change leadership. She is
passionate about diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice.
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Get ready, we have new Talk Sup episodes ready to be released for this
Fall. Stay tuned for the end of August!
Listen to the Fall Series Promo on Soundcloud.
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
Dr. Michael Hynes is the Superintendent of Schools for the Patchogue
Medford School District. Prior to working in Patchogue-Medford, Dr.
Hynes served as the Superintendent of Schools for the Shelter Island
School District, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and
Instruction for the Plainedge School District, elementary principal
in the Center Moriches School District and middle school principal
and classroom teacher for the South Country School District.
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Dr. David Miyashiro currently serves as Superintendent of the Cajon Valley Union School District. David was named 2016 Superintendent of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators Region 18. Most recently, David was appointed by the CA State Board of Education to serve as co-chair for California's committee tasked with bringing Computer Science to all K-12 students. With David's leadership, Cajon Valley has undergone a seamless transition to the digital age. Cajon Valley has achieved system-wide success with blended and personalized learning where all teachers and students have 24/7 access to their own district issued laptop, internet connectivity, and a digital ecosystem of robust resources and creativity tools.
Dr. Richard M. Sheehan serves as the Superintendent of the Covina-Valley
Unified School District. Dr. Sheehan has worked in public education
for the past 30 years. Prior to joining the District, Dr. Sheehan
served as the Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, and Assistant
Superintendent of Educational Services at Glendale Unified School
District.
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Paul Gothold is the San Diego County Superintendent of Schools, and a 25-year educator who has championed educational equity. Dr. Gothold was previously a superintendent of Lynwood Unified School District, a 15,000-student district in Los Angeles County recognized nationally in 2017 for boosting Advanced Placement enrollment and exam passing rates.