Sandra Lyon, a Palmdale schools administrator who begins her new post on July 1, is faced with improving relations between Malibu schools and the district’s Santa Monica home.
By Paul Sisolak / Special to The Malibu Times
Sandra Lyon, a Palmdale school administrator who previously led a Lake Hughes elementary school to receiving a prestigious California Distinguished Schools award, will become the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s new superintendent beginning in July.
Citing her as an educator imbued with warmth, empathy and a commitment to children and social justice, the announcement was made at a Board of Education special meeting Monday night, after a unanimous 7-0 vote by board members. Lyon is the successor to current superintendent Tim Cuneo, who is retiring after three years with the district.
A former journalist, Lyon also worked as a middle school principal and a teacher of at-risk students before serving as a director of curriculum at the Lancaster School District. Later, she became superintendent of the Hughes-Lakes Municipal School District, where her implementation of a response and prevention program earned the single-school district its state award. Lyon has been with the Palmdale School District since 2009.
Lyon said at Monday’s meeting that she and her husband Paul, also a teacher, are ecstatic about the opportunity.
“We are at a point in our lives where this is a new adventure, and we’re looking to become immersed in the community,” she said.
Lyon said after Monday’s meeting that she would be quick to acquaint herself with Malibu’s five schools before she begins her post on July 1.
“One of the things I’m going to need is to visit the schools,” she said, “and learning what the community needs, what they want, and what we can do for them.”
Lyon emerged as the lead candidate for the job after an intensive, months-long search directly involved Board of Education members in the interviewing and selection process.
Los Angeles-based Leadership Associates, a search firm comprised of nine former school superintendents, conducted the search for a superintendent on a $28,500 contract approved by the SMMUSD board.
In January and February of this year the Board of Education held a public meeting and a series of community forums in Malibu and Santa Monica to elicit what the public would like to see in a new schools superintendent.
Malibu residents have been vocal in the past regarding their high standards for a new administrator after they reported a disconnect between parents and outgoing superintendent Cuneo, who announced his retirement last fall after spending three tense years with the district.
Cuneo had come under fire for his opposition to giving charter status to the Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School. Parents from the school were vociferous in accusing Cuneo of indicating that the Point Dume was in danger of closing due to the financial crisis. On top of that, Cuneo, who denied the allegations, will hand off the reins to his successor as the school district is faced with continually declining state education funding, cuts to school district personnel and a perceived disconnect between Malibu and the district’s Santa Monica offices.
Lyon, who will become the district’s fourth permanent superintendent since 2006, inherits these problems but is hoping to bridge that gap by bringing the much-needed stability local schools have deserved, school board members say. Malibu Mayor Pro Tem Laura Rosenthal, who came to odds with Cuneo on Point Dume, also expressed hopes for a renewed relationship with the school district and the new superintendent.
“I look forward to working with the new superintendent,” Rosenthal said. “I know very little about her and I think it’ll be an exciting time for our district, and I’m looking forward to great things.”
“Sandra … understands that the most important thing in public schools is the relationship between teachers and students,” said board member Oscar de la Torre, who partook in the candidate search.
“She gets ‘it,’ that our schools are part of our community,” Nimish Patel, another board member, said.
Board member Laurie Lieberman traveled to Palmdale to elicit feedback from Lyon’s colleagues, coworkers and students when Lyon became a front-runner for the job. They, Lieberman said, voiced “effusive praise” for Lyon.