New superintendent sees ‘breathtaking opportunities’
CUPERTINO >> Craig Baker will begin leading the Cupertino Union School District in the fall, with the task of uniting a high-performing but fractured district.
The school board voted unanimously last week at Nimitz Elementary School to approve the contract with Baker and officially welcome him to the school community.
The district announced Baker’s selection on July 31. He has been superintendent of the San Carlos School District for eight years.
When the selection was announced, the district said Baker’s first day on the job would be Oct. 1. Baker’s base salary will be $261,331 for his first year of the 2 years and 9 months contract and it will run until the 2020 school year.
Baker will take over for Wendy Gudalewicz, who was ousted in the spring after the board chose not to renew her contract. Chris Jew and Stacy McAfee have been filling in as interim co-superintendents since her departure.
Gudalewicz was criticized by parents for her and the district’s decision in summer 2015 to replace all the staff at West Valley Elementary School. The district also drew parents’ ire after announcing a plan for a teacher housing project at the Luther School site in Santa Clara and perceived public support for The Hills at Vallco mixed-use project in Cupertino.
Over the past two years, parents regularly showed up to board of education meetings to request the board dismiss Gudalewicz. Per her contract, she received her salary of $285,563 for an additional year, the district said in April.
In brief remarks to the board and residents, Baker expressed optimism and excitement about beginning his new job.
“I could not feel more positive about the move I am about to make,” he said. “It’s been a long haul to get here, and I am chomping at the bit to get started.”
Baker made mention of the districts “challenging times recently” but said this was an “opportunity for all of us to come together.” Baker paraphrased a quote he finds inspirational by the late John W. Gardner, who served as secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson.
“What we have before us are breathtaking opportunities disguised as insoluble problems,” he said in reference to the quote. “That’s how I feel about this opportunity. It is breathtaking for me. Where we’re about to go is amazing, and I am so happy to be here, and I hope that everybody joins me in that spirit that there is something great for us and those challenges that seem like insoluble problems are in fact really just breathtaking opportunities.”
Baker also said he looks forward to getting to know district officials and board members in the days and months to come.
Baker has 22 years of experience in public education as a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent in both the Pajaro Valley Unified and Redwood City school districts. According to the district, Baker was voted 2016 Superintendent of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators Region 5. He earned his bachelor and master of science degrees from the University of California Santa Cruz and his doctorate in education from the University of San Francisco.
In the spring the school board authorized the creation of a confidential stakeholder advisory committee, made up of five residents and five staff members who interviewed the final three candidates. The district also tapped search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates to find candidates. The firm polled board members, parents, staff, students and the wider community via focus groups, interviews and an online survey.
Board president Anjali Kausar thanked all of the community members who participated in the selection process.
“We all agree that Dr. Baker has the proven ability and experience to continue CUSD’s tradition of educational excellence,” she said.
Baker was in attendance with his wife. He said they have a 14-year-old son entering high school and a 25-year-old daughter who works in communications and is performing in a theatrical production.
Cupertino Union has about 18,600 students registered in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade.