Longtime Kern educator Mark Richardson dies
He was a teacher, a football coach, a dean of students, an assistant principal at North High and a principal at Foothill before he rose to the position of superintendent at high school districts in both Taft and Santa Maria.
Mark Richardson, a dynamic and focused educator who believed in doing what was best for his students, died of a heart attack Monday while on a hunting trip. He was 59.
“He was hunting with his uncle. They took a break and were sitting and relaxing,” said Richardson’s wife of nearly three decades, Kelly Richardson. “It was very sudden. There was really no warning.”
Bryon Schaefer, superintendent of the Kern High School District, worked with Richardson from 1998 to 2002 when Richardson was assistant principal of North High School.
“Mark cared about all students, but he truly wanted to make sure that students with great ability were not held back by financial barriers or lack of information,” Schaefer said in an email.
“He brought the AVID program to the Kern High School District to provide support to first-generation college-going students,” he said. “As a UC Berkeley graduate, he took great pride in helping students get accepted there. He went so far as to provide transportation to students and support as they navigated the enrollment process at UC Berkeley.” Schaefer remembered his former colleague as “gregarious,” a person who took pride in knowing people on a personal level.
The superintendent said he will miss the great conversations, punctuated with Richardson’s humor and wit, that they shared over the years.
Born in 1961, Richardson grew up outside Bakersfield in the small farming community of Shafter. The idea of a career in public service was instilled at an early age by his father, Steve, an industrial arts teacher at Shafter High, and his mother, Pat, a nurse.
After graduating from Shafter High School in 1980, Richardson earned a bachelor’s degree in history at UC Berkeley in 1985.
But he would climb much higher.
By 1988, he was teaching at Foothill High, but a position in 1991 as head football coach at Shafter high, his alma mater, proved too hard to resist.
“His dad was still teaching there at the time,” recalled Kelly Richardson. “Mark loved coaching. In a way, he continued to coach people forever.”
In 1997, Richardson got his first taste of administration as dean of students at Bakersfield High School. It seemed he quickly realized leadership positions were his cup of tea.
One year later, he was working as assistant principal at North High, a job that lasted four years.
In the meantime, he continued his post-graduate education. He earned his master’s degree in educational administration from California Lutheran University in 1992, and a doctorate in organizational leadership would follow in 2007.
Two years at the district office led to Richardson’s first principalship in 2004 at Foothill High, the campus in east Bakersfield where it had all started 16 years before.
These were heady times, but change was brewing, his wife remembered. Richardson’s daughter from a previous marriage had already graduated high school in 2003, but their two sons were approaching high school age and the Foothill principal wanted to be able to attend his sons’ school activities more freely.
“There was also an opportunity,” she said, “to be part of a smaller community.”
The Taft Union High School District seemed like the perfect fit, so Richardson left the KHSD, packed up the family and headed west — about 30 miles.
“Mark did a lot of great work in Taft,” Kelly Richardson said of his tenure there. “Graduation rates, retention, student scores.”
And he worked with the local community college to offer concurrent learning opportunities for Taft High students.
As superintendent-principal of Taft Union High School in 2012, Richardson was named California FFA administrator of the year, the highest honor given to a school administrator from the state organization.
In 2012, the Richardsons made another significant move, this time to Santa Maria on the Central Coast.
Richardson began his career at the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District in 2012 and retired in 2019 after seven years of service.
According to a news release from the district, Richardson was the driving force behind creating the district’s new Career Technical Education Center & Agricultural Farm, as well as other programs and infrastructure that benefitted youth and the community.
“As a friend and colleague of Mark for over 30 years, his unexpected passing hits very hard,” John Davis, the district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said in the release.
“Mark brought passion, humor and professionalism to everything he did and he shared those gifts generously with all that worked with him,” Davis said. “His impact on this district and community were profound and we were indeed fortunate to have benefited from his leadership during the seven years he served.”
Members of the school board lauded Richardson as a pioneer who left a true legacy for future generations.
Kelly Richardson is proud of her husband’s professional accomplishments, but she will also remember him as a loving husband, an active and involved father, for his “wicked sense of humor.”
“He could get intense when it mattered,” she said. “But he was really good at breaking the barriers and the tension between people.”
Richardson is survived by his wife, Kelly, and two sons, Vaughn and Val, and a daughter, Sherah.
Services are pending.