County schools chief candidate Wheaton
He says there are 100,000 reasons why he is running
Being elected to the position of Tulare County superintendent of schools may be a job promotion for some, but for candidate Craig Wheaton it is a calling.
“I have gotten a lot out of my career for myself, but this isn’t a job opportunity, I don’t need to work, I want to work, that’s a difference,” said Wheaton, who currently serves as the deputy superintendent of administrative services for Tulare County Office of Education. “I think that this is the most important work for me to do, to serve.”
Wheaton, who has worked in education for nearly 40 years, has served in numerous positions such as being a school counselor, a teacher at a continuation high school, an assistant principal at a high school, an elementary school principal, the director of state and federal projects for Visalia Unified School District (VUSD), a supervisor of VUSD’S curriculum department and secondary schools and eventually the superintendent of VUSD.
A couple of years ago, Wheaton announced he would be leaving his position as VUSD’S superintendent to take on his current position as deputy superintendent for Tulare County Office of Education.
“I kind of am an unique individual in that I seek out learning new things,” Wheaton said, adding that he believes he separates himself from the other candidates from his experience in a vast array of positions he’s held over the years. “You don’t find very many educators that have had elementary and high school both, and you don’t find very many educators that worked directly in teaching and learning in the curriculum part extensively, and then also end up in the business department or vice versa.”
Wheaton’s education background is as extensive as his work history.
After graduating from Sacramento State University with a bachelor’s in psychology, Wheaton obtained a master’s in education from San Francisco State University, did his administrative credential work at Fresno Pacific University and acquired his doctorate in education from Pepperdine University.
However, before Wheaton step foot inside a classroom as a working professional or a student, he spent his days on a small family farm in southwest Missouri where he spent the first five years of his life. Shortly thereafter, Wheaton, his mother, father and two brothers moved just outside Stockton. While there, his dad worked in the dairy industry. His mother was an elementary school teacher.
It was from his father, Wheaton said, where he learned the importance of having a good work ethic, and from his mother where he learned about loving kids.
Wheaton would later move and spend the rest of his childhood in El Dorado County near Placerville, where he went to and graduated from high school.
In terms of his own family, Wheaton, who has lived in Tulare County since 1979, has three kids, all of whom are now adults.
In the past two years working at the county office, Wheaton said one of the things he has realized is that Tulare County is a lot bigger than just Visalia.
“There are 43 school districts and 100,000 students in Tulare County so when I think about why I am running I really do think about the students that I come across,” Wheaton said, adding that he wants each and every one of those 100,000 students “to be able to find their passion, and to gain the skills to take that passion into a successful life.”
In addition to ensuring that every kid in Tulare County is successful, another goal Wheaton wants to accomplish if elected as county superintendent of schools is making sure every kid has a safe environment to learn while at school.
“Certainly, in these last two weeks we have been reminded of the importance of safe and secure school environments,” Wheaton said.
Wheaton said not only is a comprehensive safety plan important, but also a plan to help prevent students from carrying out tragic incidents, which he believes can be accomplished by continuing to invest in trainings, awareness, behavioral aides and counselors.
Additionally, Wheaton said the county’s student programs need to be expanded and sustained such as SCICON — the outdoor school of science and conservation operated by the Tulare County Office of Education — and the county’s Character Counts education program. Wheaton said the county’s spelling bees, history day, cyber quest, after school programs, early childhood education and others are important as well.
“All of these things provides kids in Stone Corral [Elementary Primary], at Springville or wherever they are, it gives them kind of that next level stage to really be able to put learning into practice in a real way to compete on a world stage,” Wheaton said.
Wheaton added that to continue such programs requires resources, something he believes won’t be a problem getting if he is elected due to his connections with lobbyists in Sacramento through an administrative organization he is a part of and from working with the state board of education.
“I am there to really lobby for policies that will let us do our work and get resources to come here to Tulare County,” Wheaton said, adding that, “Trying to keep that advocacy for kids here in Sacramento to make sure we get funding is probably one of the most important things the county superintendent can do.”
In addition to also continuing to develop career pathways in school districts, Wheaton said he would also like to see school districts share their successes with one another such as Lindsay Unified’s individualized performance-based learning system.
“They [Lindsay Unified] are getting national notoriety, but many of our school districts really don’t understand what they have and I think that coming in and looking at how we can better collaborate together to learn from each other is something the county office can do that would be an improvement in the future,” Wheaton said, adding, “We compete on the football fields, but we don’t need to compete on what our education programs are.”
Wheaton is a busy man and intends to keep busy to ensure all schools in Tulare County are offering the best education possible. However, when he is not working, Wheaton enjoys volunteering his time at the Visalia Rotary, Visalia Host Lions Club, Visalia Runners Club, and the China Peak Volunteer Ski Patrol among many other clubs and organizations. Wheaton also loves hiking, running marathons, mountain biking, climbing mountains and skiing.
“I have plenty to do on the weekends when I have time, but I do what I want to do and what I like to do, and education is that main central thing,” Wheaton said.