School chief gets one- year extension
Three top aides will continue alongsideMarken
NEWARK — Superintendent Dave Marken , Newark Unified School District’s award- winning leader since 2011, has received a one- year contract extension, helping to return stability to a district rocked by controversy and uncertainty a year ago.
Marken’s new 12- month deal with the district runs from Wednesday through next summer. The contracts for his top three managers — Soleste Hilberg, Bryan Richards and Diane Manske — also run through mid- 2016.
Marken’s annual salary next year will be $ 235,500, an increase of $ 9,000, said Richards, the district’s chief business official.
Hilberg, assistant superintendent of educational services, will earn $ 172,200 in fiscal year 2015- 16. Diane Manske, assistant superintendent of human resources, will be paid $ 155,000.
Richards’ annual salary will remain $ 177,600.
“We’ll all be here for at least one more year,” Marken said.
That was in question less than a year ago.
Although Marken last year was named the East Bay’s Superintendent of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators, he resigned amid accusations that some school board members had micromanaged him and intimidated employees. A summer of turmoil followed, as Marken’s supporters crowded into school board meetings and lambasted trustees for chasing him away.
One school board member resigned and another chose not to run for reelection.
The tumult disappeared, however, when Marken returned in September and he and the school board pledged to work together.
Since joining Newark Unified four years ago, Marken has been credited with turning around a struggling school district by improving test scores and fostering unity and morale. He immediately helped persuade voters to pass Measure G, a $ 63 million school improvement bond that captured 56 percent of the vote.
In 2013, Newark Unified achieved the largest growth in API testing scores among Alameda County school districts. Also, two Newark campuses were awarded the state’s Distinguished School Status in the same year for the first time in 12 years.
Marken previously worked for 13 years in Dublin, where he served three years as principal at Dublin High. He then worked in the Dublin school district office, where he spent his final two years as assistant superintendent of both educational services and human resources.
Newark’s five- member school board unanimously approved Marken’s new deal in late April.
“I’m delighted that he’s with us,” school board President Jan Crocker said. “We’re on a roll, and I think we’ve got a great group of administrators — the superintendent, his cabinet, principals and assistant principals — who work well together and support each other.”