Thursday, August 21, 2008

K-8 schools chief is leaving Hermosa Beach school district

Source: The Daily Breeze

Article Launched: 08/20/2008 10:58:03 PM PDT

Hermosa Beach City School District is losing its superintendent to a larger district with similar demographics and high test scores in suburban San Diego.

Sharon McClain, who has served as superintendent at the Hermosa Beach K-8 district since 2003, accepted the top job at Del Mar Union School District at a closed-session school board meeting in San Diego on Wednesday evening.

Board members from Del Mar Union, who had ousted a 10-year superintendent earlier this year, visited Hermosa Beach schools on Wednesday.

"I love Hermosa, I don't want to leave Hermosa," McClain said. "(Del Mar Union) is just bigger, so it's kind of a promotion in a way."

Del Mar Union, a K-6 district with eight schools in Del Mar and north San Diego, has about 4,100 students. Hermosa Beach has two campuses with about 1,100 students.

Both districts have top-tier test scores and majority-white student bodies.

Hermosa Beach will likely appoint an interim superintendent, said McClain, who promised to stay through a short transition period.

McClain's husband, Joseph Condon, is the longtime superintendent of Lawndale School District and will remain in that position, officials there said.