The head administrator of two West Marin school districts cruised to victory in his bid for county superintendent of schools. John Carroll will take over Superintendent Mary Jane Burke’s job in January, leaving questions about how Bolinas-Stinson Union and Lagunitas School Districts will replace him next year.
The districts could opt to hire another shared superintendent, split up the job and consider combination principal-superintendents, or temporarily rely on the county’s Office of Education for administrative duties.
“The shared superintendency is an unusual setup, and I don’t know which way my two boards are leaning,” Mr. Carroll said. “They have different options.”
Mr. Carroll said his campaign consumed time this spring, and he looks forward to prioritizing his work for the school districts and helping them in their transitions for the rest of the year. “I have not been giving them the 100 percent that I usually do,” he said.
His campaign, which raised nearly $79,000, paid off. Elections officials will be counting mail-in ballots for weeks, but last Tuesday’s early results indicated a commanding lead. Mr. Carroll received twice as many votes as his opponent, Michele Crncich Hodge, whom he leads by more than 34 percentage points. He was endorsed by Ms. Burke, who served seven terms as county superintendent, and all his fellow Marin district superintendents.
Ms. Hodge secured endorsements from dozens of teachers’ unions and from Tony Thurmond, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Anita Collison, president of the Lagunitas Teachers Association, endorsed Ms. Hodge over Mr. Carroll.
Mr. Carroll pointed out that the teachers’ union endorsements were largely ratifications of a key endorsement from the California Teachers Association, and described Mr. Thurmond as a “puppet” of the union. “C.T.A. was pushing their membership super hard to vote for her,” he said. Ms. Collison declined to comment on her endorsement.
In the wake of Mr. Carroll’s victory, Bolinas and Lagunitas must decide whether to hire another joint superintendent who splits time and pay between the districts through a memorandum of understanding. This school year, each district paid Mr. Carroll half his salary, which amounted to $211,000. (Ms. Burke made $338,187 during the same period as county superintendent.)
Before Mr. Carroll took over the districts in 2014, his predecessor, Larry Enos, split his time between the districts for nearly a decade. Mr. Enos was the first to head both districts.
Nate Siedman, president of the Bolinas-Stinson school board, said the model worked well for the small district and was much better than a more common alternative. “Some small districts merge the positions of principal and superintendent into one,” he said. “That’s something we’ve done in the past, but the role of principal as the educational leader often takes a back seat to the requirements of the superintendent job. It’s really not possible to do both jobs well.”
Mr. Siedman said the board was considering asking another administrator, like the district’s chief business official or administrative assistant, to serve as an interim superintendent.
Lagunitas trustee Amos Klausner expressed more uncertainty about his own board’s decision, partly because Lagunitas is in a rockier period. The district’s chief business official recently died and the school is struggling to hire new teachers to fill two vacant positions. At the same time, families are leaving its unique Open Classroom program, some for a nearby charter school that saddles Lagunitas with a hefty bill.
Mr. Klausner said the period of transition could be an opportunity for the board to exert more control over the future of Lagunitas, including possibly restructuring its administration.
“I tend to think that we don’t need a superintendent,” he said. “We do need some support, certainly, and I don’t know what the county office would be willing to do to support us. I like to think it’s an opportunity to radically rethink how we spend our money and where we want to apply those funds to get the most for our kids.”
The district could contract with the county education office for certain administrative duties, he suggested. It is already relying on the office for some budgetary duties since chief business official Jeff Lippstreu died in April.
The day after his victory, following an impromptu hallway meeting with Ms. Burke’s entire staff, Mr. Carroll was in high spirits. He said he was hoping to soon meet with various local groups, including the Marin Organizing Committee and a group of interested citizens in Marin City. He reiterated what he said would be his two chief priorities as county superintendent: career pathways for students and equity in early childhood education. But he said for the next several months, his priority will remain his two districts.
In January, Mr. Carroll wrote letters to state lawmakers trying to garner attention for perhaps the most pressing issue facing Lagunitas: the unpredictable annual bill from Ross Valley Charter. He hoped State Senator Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Marc Levine could introduce legislation undoing the requirement that basic aid districts like Lagunitas pay for student transfers to state-authorized charter schools like R.V.C., but he knew at the time that it was a longshot.
“I expect that my voice will be louder now on that issue,” he said. “Whether I can make change happen remains to be seen, but Marin can be a pretty influential county.”