Source: Easy Reader News
by Robb Fulcher
Published August 21, 2008
Hermosa public school Superintendent Sharon McClain will resign to take the helm of the larger Del Mar Union School District down the coast in San Diego County.
McClain, who led the Hermosa district for five years, was long rumored to be leaving for the top job in a larger school district. Her resignation was revealed in an official announcement for a closed-door meeting of the Hermosa Beach City School District scheduled for this morning. One item on the meeting agenda read: “public employee resignation – superintendent.”
“I’m excited about it because it’s going to be a challenge. It’s going to be a bigger district,” McClain said in a telephone message Tuesday. “But I’m really going to miss Hermosa.”
The Del Mar school district serves 4,100 students, which is about four times the number of the Hermosa district, and has eight campuses, which is four times the number of the Hermosa district.
The Del Mar district has been led by an interim superintendent since March 5.
McClain joined the Hermosa district as superintendent five years ago to the month, replacing Robert “Duffy” Clark.
At Hermosa, McClain helped oversee construction of a controversial gymnasium-library-classroom building that was approved before her arrival for the third-through-eighth grade Hermosa Valley School, and she weathered an unsuccessful lawsuit that sought to halt the project.
During her tenure the school district unsuccessfully asked voters for fresh school bonds in 2006 and a “parcel tax” on Hermosa properties in 2008. Many school district critics cited the gymnasium building as a reason for opposing additional infusions of money.
McClain also presided over continued high performance by Hermosa students, who traditionally score well on the standardized academic tests that state education officials prize.
Meanwhile, the school district was dogged by the budget woes of Sacramento. When McClain arrived in Hermosa parents were asked to donate $300 per student to keep a number of academic programs afloat; as she leaves, the requested donation amount has more than doubled.
This summer the Hermosa Beach City Council donated $100,000 worth of services to the school district to help cover a projected $1.2 million shortfall for the coming school year, after parent donations and other private fundraising efforts brought in $690,000.
Before coming to Hermosa, McClain served as superintendent of the Mesa Union School District in Ventura County, which like Hermosa serves kindergarten through eighth grade students. Mesa Union had 550 kids, about half the number Hermosa has, and had one campus, which also is half the number Hermosa has.
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