27 Mar With Departing Superintendent, Pittsburg Unified Begins Search For New Leader

Janet Schulze, seen at Wednesday’s Pittsburg Unified school board meeting, will leave at the end of the school year after 12 years as superintendent. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

After a dozen years leading the school district, Pittsburg Unified Superintendent Janet Schulze is leaving the position at the end of the school year.

Schulze previewed the upcoming departure in a newsletter last week, before helping the school board kick off the search for a new leader at its Wednesday meeting.

Board members, working with Leadership Associates during the process, project that a new superintendent will be appointed by mid-June and start the next month. Schulze said she’ll stay around to help during the transition.

“It’s personal for me as well as professional to make sure that the transition is smooth,” said Schulze.

Schulze came to the district in 2014 from the San Francisco Unified School District, where she served as an assistant superintendent, executive director of alternative schools, and a principal.

In her time with PUSD, Schulze has overseen recent gains in English and math test scores, faced — and began to address — claims that the district denied proper education to students who are Black or English learners, and helped keep budget cuts away from students during deficit years.

For board president Taylor Sims, Schulze leaves “some big shoes to fill.”

“So that’s going to be a challenge as well for the next superintendent,” said Sims.

Members praised Schulze’s longevity, with Vice President De’Shawn Woolridge saying her term was the longest in the district’s history. Prior to Schulze coming on board, PUSD went through three permanent superintendents in the decade before.

Eric Andrew with Leadership Associates said that Schulze’s longevity — her also being one of the longest continuously serving superintendents in the Bay Area and state — is part of what will attract applicants.

“You’ve had 12 years. That’s unprecedented, not only in Pittsburg, but in the state,” said Andrew. “And when you have a 12-year history with someone, that speaks for itself.”

Sims and her colleagues also have a laundry list of wants they’re hoping they’ll find in a new superintendent: strong leadership, culturally competent, equity-minded, has integrity, is coachable, can “stand on business,” and more.

Candidates don’t have to meet all of these wants to get the position. Board members will also take into account experience, references and interviews.

Community members too will get a say. With the help of Leadership Associates, surveys and focus groups with different types of people in the district will take place before any decision is made.

Leadership Associates estimates that the outreach for community feedback will begin at the end of March. Surveys will ask PUSD community members what they want in a new superintendent and what challenges they could face.

One of the biggest challenges facing a new superintendent will be the budget deficit, board member Heliodoro Moreno said. PUSD has already reduced $18.89 million of its deficit just this year, but more cuts are projected in the coming years.

“That’s something for them to understand, but also to understand that we want to do it with compassion and really focusing on being student-centered,” said Moreno.