School District Picks Colorado Administrator as New Superintendent

Novato’s new public schools superintendent received a warm welcome Tuesday night during a short introduction before a regular meeting.

Shalee Cunningham, a fifth-generation Sonoma County native who has been leading the Steamboat Springs, Colo., school district for the past three years, takes over for the retiring Jan La Torre-Derby as of July 1.

La Torre-Derby announced at the start of the school year that she was going to retire, but she backed out two months early because of an illness in the family. Pam Conklin, head of human resources, is filling in as interim superintendent.

Cunningham agreed to a four-year contract during a closed session of board meeting, then was introduced during the open session.

“We pared it down to one very outstanding candidate,” said Tom Cooper, trustee president. “Several of us were able to visit her in her district, and the great part of it was that everyone we talked to … gave us a consistent message — from a neighboring superintendent, principals, parents — the message was the same: that she is all about kids, high achievement and leadership. They said she has a collaborative style and listens to others, and that she is willing to make hard decisions.” 

Cunningham’s starting salary will be $195,000, which includes stipends for masters and doctoral degrees. Her salary, about $10,000 more than what La Torre-Derby earned this year, will be reevaluated each year by the school board.

In factoring her new salary, trustees “took into consideration her extensive level of experience, multiple responsibilities and size of the district and deemed this to be a reasonable and competitive compensation,” the district release said.

Prior to serving in Steamboat Springs, Cunningham was an educational consultant and served as superintendent in three school districts in California in the 1980s and 1990s, according to an NUSD release. In addition, she has served as a research assistant, principal, resource specialist and teacher.

Cunningham holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, a master’s degree from California State University at Long Beach and a bachelor’s degree from California State University at Sacramento.

 “I’m happy and ecstatic to be selected as NUSD’s next superintendent,” Cunningham said in a prepared statement. “Novato is such a dynamic community and I’m looking forward to meeting everyone and working with them to make Novato Unified School District even better.”

After the meeting, Cunningham said it's quite clear what her priority will be when she settles in Novato in July.

"It's the budget," she said. "Funding for schools is a national issue. The situation is the same everywhere and something needs to happen soon."

Other than the fiscal challenges, Cunningham said she'll be interested to dive into the redistricting study that is expected to be conducted in the coming months. With the impending closure of Hill Middle School in June, the district drew new boundaries to determine where middle school students would attend school next year. A comprehensive look at boundaries for all public schools is in the works by a consulting firm.

Cunningham and her husband, Jeff, own a house in Napa and plan to move back into it, she said. The commute should be about 40 minutes, she said. Being available for school functions after hours is part of the job, she added.

"As a superintendent, you're accustomed to that. It's understood," she said.

Cunningham grew up in Santa Rosa and Kenwood. Her family has links to the Zina Hyde Cunningham winery in Boonville and Ledson in Kenwood. She said Novato is not entirely new to her and she remembers many times when her son's youth football teams came down to Novato and routine were defeated.

"I know Novato pretty well," she said.

Peter Perhac, chief executive of Steamboat Springs’ Alpine campus of the Colorado Mountain College, said he worked closely with Cunningham when she was a college trustee there

“She is a really compassionate and warm educator,” said Perhac, who was a parent at Benicia High School when Cunningham was district superintendent there between 2003 and 2005. “She is easy to get to know, very friendly and very professional. Steamboat Springs will really miss her.”

Perhac said Cunningham’s legacy in Colorado will be in the area of teamwork and curriculum development. He said the state government wanted the community college system to cooperate with the local school district so that kids could graduate high school and graduate with an AA degree at the same time.

“She was instrumental in setting that up,” Perhac said. “And there were a lot of fiscal decisions to make, and she had to make them with compassion. She has experiencing making though decisions.”

The district plans to host a welcoming reception for Cunningham to meet parents, students and the community later this spring.