Submitted by Gentle Blythe SFUSD
Carlos Garcia announced today that he will retire from the San Francisco Unified School District in July 2012 after five years at the helm of SFUSD and 37 years in education. The SF Board of Education has entered into negotiations with Richard Carranza, Deputy Superintendent of Instruction, Innovation and Social Justice, to be his successor.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this great community and work with the great educators and elected officials on our school board and in our city to make sure children come first,” said Superintendent Garcia. “Our work at SFUSD has restored my faith in the excellent opportunities that do exist in public education. School systems can stand for social justice and we can mobilize as a civil rights organization to close the achievement gap for our most underserved students.”
Board of Education commissioners lauded the superintendent for his ability to build a strong culture of collaboration focused on shared goals both within the district and between the district, the city of San Francisco and the community.
“On behalf of the board, we are sad to see Superintendent Garcia leave as we’ve made great strides under his leadership. As much as we would love for him to stay, we respect his decision to spend more time with his family,” said School Board President Norman Yee.
Mayor Ed Lee joined the school board president in thanking Garcia for his contributions to the city.
“It’s been my honor and pleasure to work side by side with Superintendent Carlos Garcia in a continued cooperative spirit to make our schools and community a better place for all our students and their families,” said Mayor Lee. “His bold, no nonsense, do it for the kids attitude has been a strong foundation for SFUSD and his leadership in preparing our youth for the 21st century innovation economy will leave a lasting legacy in our City.”
Next Superintendent for SFUSD
Board president Yee announced that the Board of Education will enter into negotiations with Richard Carranza who has served as SFUSD’s Deputy Superintendent for Instruction, Innovation and Social Justice since 2009.
Carranza said he is looking forward to the opportunity to continue to serve San Francisco’s children.
“I look forward to continuing to build upon the remarkable academic achievement trajectory of the SFUSD. My family and I are proud to live in a city that values children.”
Changes in SFUSD Since 2007
Carlos Garcia began his tenure as superintendent in SFUSD in July 2007. Over the past five years the district has increased student achievement test scores across the board and narrowed the achievement gap, including changing graduation requirements to meet the course sequence students must take to be admitted to a California state university. Numerous other new programs, designed to increase the number of SFUSD graduates continuing on to college.
The district has improved instruction for students who are just learning English while continuing to expand the availability of language immersion programs for native English speakers and English language learners alike, including opening a new K-8 Spanish Immersion school in the Mission (Buena Vista Horace Mann) and new Chinese Immersion School in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood (Chinese Immersion School at D’Avila).
