First Asian American Oakland Unified superintendent has died of cancer

OAKLAND >> Carole Quan, the first Asian American to serve as superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District, has died of cancer, the district announced Thursday night.

Quan, 80, spent much of her lifetime learning in and then working for the district. She was a teacher, a principal and assistant superintendent before her appointment as superintendent by the district’s board of education in the late 1990s.

“Superintendent Quan represented the community with passion and singular dedication,” said current Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell in a statement. “She always put students first, was there for our staff in every way and was a role model, being the pioneering Asian American education leader that she was. We are a better school district for having had her decades of service in the classroom and in leadership.”

Emeritus Principal Denise Saddler remembered Quan as an “educator’s educator.”

“She was a mentor to everyone in the district, and she cared about all students,” said Saddler, who worked closely with Quan as city schools coordinator. “No matter who you were, she made you feel like you were known to her personally. She always remembered birthdays. In fact, I got a birthday card from her just last year.”

Quan’s mother also attended Oakland schools, as did her daughters, Holly and Heidi.

“Coming from a family of strong women, my sister and I could not have had a better role model,” said Holly Quan, a reporter at KCBS Radio, in a statement. “Through her success, Mom taught us tenacity and grace while nurturing in us a fierce pride in our hometown. From tailgating at A’s and Raiders games to feeding the ducks at Lake Merritt to turning the Magic Keys at Fairyland, she was a daughter of Oakland to the end.”

Carole Quan attended Franklin Elementary, Roosevelt Junior High and Oakland High and later taught full time at Lockwood Elementary (now CUES and Futures Elementary) and Lincoln Elementary. She was part of the administration at Lincoln Elementary, Piedmont Avenue Elementary, Franklin Elementary and Joaquin Miller Elementary before becoming assistant superintendent.

She then became the first Asian American woman to lead the district, which is among the largest in the state.

Quan led the district from 1997 to 1999. She stepped down after board critics and others, including then-Mayor Jerry Brown, called for new leadership amid low student achievement and management troubles, according to news reports at the time.

The district was embroiled in controversy at the time for poor student grades and illegal payments made to a private investigator. Quan was among several city leaders to resign under pressure from Brown, but her supporters at the time said she was scapegoated for problems that had plagued the district long before her 18-month tenure, according to the news reports.

Saddler, in a statement, said Quan was well-loved by staff and on her final day in office, many staff members gathered to say goodbye.

She “created a family environment for OUSD staff, where you felt like you were truly part of her family and the OUSD family,” Saddler said.

Plans for a memorial are pending.

The district said Quan was a big supporter of the Chabot Science Center, and because of that relationship, the center has created an endowment fund in her name to support an outstanding science teacher every year.