Dianne Talarico will receive a salary of $182,000. The new superintendent says she is “inclusive” and a “risk taker.”
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
It’s official. The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education voted last Thursday to hire Dianne Talarico as the permanent replacement for John Deasy as the district’s superintendent. It was already announced earlier last week that Talarico would be the district’s selection, and the vote was mostly a formality.
Talarico, who is leaving her job as head of the school district in Canton, Ohio to take the SMMUSD position, will begin work on Aug. 14. She will receive an annual salary of $182,000, with the board having the option to give her a 10 percent bonus after a year.
Talarico attended the meeting and addressed the board following the vote. She called herself an “approachable leader.”
“I am inclusive,” Talarico said. “I’m a risk taker. I’m courageous. I’m passionate about what I do. But I’m one of the strongest child advocates you’ll ever meet.”
Talarico said she would spend the first several months on the job visiting schools and talking with people, especially students, to get a feel for the community. She said her energy would be focused on the middle and high schools, although that does not mean she will be ignoring the elementary schools.
“You don’t go into a place and fix what’s not broken,” Talarico said. “And just like each child is unique, each school district is unique and each school within the school district is unique … I’m not coming in with the flavor of the month or the latest package deal how to improve things here. I’m coming with an openness to really listen to the people and see what the people need to do together to take Santa Monica-Malibu to the next level.”
Although only four school board members attended the meeting, SMMUSD President Julia Brownley said all seven members attended a closed-session meeting earlier this month at which they unanimously gave direction to offer a contract to Talarico.
SMMUSD Vice President Kathy Wisnicki, Malibu’s lone member on the school board, visited Canton recently with Board Member Oscar de la Torre to speak with the district’s staff, teachers and principals there about Talarico. Wisnicki said she only heard praise.
“They talked about Dianne as an educational leader, somebody who strived for excellence… who was collaborative, who was always thinking about educational reform, who really pushed them to read and gain knowledge and discuss ideas, and was not afraid to be challenged and to challenge them,” Wisnicki said. “And at the end of the day, [they said], she was bold and courageous in her decision making when it was in the best interest of the children.”
Board Member Jose Escarce said, “Her [Talarico’s] talent, her intelligence, her passion and her way with people will be obvious to everyone… I fully anticipate that Dianne will be here for a long time. And I have no question that she will be the person to take the district to the next level.”
Following the announcement earlier last week that the school board would be voting on Talarico’s contract, SMMUSD teachers’ union President Harry Keiley issued a press release in which he called Talarico “a complete unknown to people in the area” who would need to prove to the teachers that she would work well with them. He also said the teachers were “more or less shut out of the selection process for choosing a new superintendent.” Keiley’s comments were not discussed at the meeting.
Talarico, who holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in educational administration from San Francisco State, previously held positions in the San Francisco Unified School District for almost 20 years. She began her career as a special education teacher in Ohio, was a principal and special education teacher in San Francisco and was principal of the American Overseas School in Rome for one year. While in San Francisco, she was also an adjunct professor at San Francisco State University.
According to a press release issued last week by the SMMUSD, “Talarico provided the leadership that resulted in raising academic achievement at every level and the high school graduation rate by 25 percent [in Ohio].” Her administration secured $42 million in competitive grants, oversaw a $178 million reconstruction project and secured voter approval of a $7 million annual tax levy, according to the SMMUSD.