Shoreline Unified School District has hired an interim superintendent with 20 years of education experience, including stints as a teacher, administrator and policy maker. A Pennsylvania native, Matt Dunkle comes to the district after serving for three years as superintendent of Forestville Union, a rural district in Sonoma County. Before that, he was principal of El Molino High School in Forestville for seven years. “I’ve covered quite a few different things during my career in education,” said Mr. Dunkle, who has also worked on policy for the California Department of Education and Washington, D.C., public school system. “I think that will be beneficial when I step into the interim role here in Shoreline, and I’m really looking forward to it.” He began his teaching career at Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, where he taught history and geography for a few years before venturing off to Case Western University in Cleveland, where he received a law degree. Rather than take a job with a legal firm, he returned to the education arena, working on policy issues for the superintendent’s office in Washington. He helped secure financing for equity-driven charter schools that support students in underserved neighborhoods, and he later served as a consultant on charter schools for the California Department of Education. Shoreline will begin searching for a permanent superintendent in the fall after a collaborative process that engages parents, staff and students, according to school board member Heidi Koening. Mr. Dunkle could become a candidate for the permanent position, but the board will conduct a broad search before hiring anyone. Ms. Koening said the board received several applications from highly qualified retired superintendents willing to fill the interim role, but Mr. Dunkle proved to be the right fit. “Matt came with fantastic recommendations from his previous school board as well as previous staff,” she said. “We were really grateful that we found him and are looking forward to working with him next year.” Mr. Dunkle, 53, will be taking over a sprawling district in which 22 percent of students have special needs, 30 percent are English-language learners and 74 percent are socioeconomically disadvantaged. In the most recent three-year plan he submitted to the state education department, outgoing superintendent Adam Jennings outlined the district’s achievements and challenges, including lagging English and math test scores. He also noted that the district has strengthened its E.S.L. program in recent years, with good results: 24 percent of E.S.L. students have been reclassified as former English language learners. One ongoing problem at Shoreline is a high chronic absenteeism rate, an issue that has plagued districts nationwide in the aftermath of the pandemic. It’s a challenge Mr. Dunkle had to contend with in Forestville. “You want to see students present at all times,” he said. “It’s important to develop a culture that stresses the importance of being at school every day. It’s the responsibility of the district and the families we work with to constantly message to our students the relevance of school and the need to be there. Missing even a day can have a have a negative impact.”