PUSD unanimously supports Evans as interim superintendent
PIEDMONT – The Piedmont Unified school board on June 22 unanimously supported hiring Dr. Donald Evans as interim superintendent of schools for the 2022-23 school year while they take a year to conduct a nationwide search for a permanent superintendent.
Superintendent Randy Booker announced this spring he accepted the superintendent position with San Mateo Union High School District and will leave PUSD July 1. Evans is coming out of retirement to come on board July 1.
Booker was emotional as he thanked “all the strong, wise women who have helped me grow professionally and personally – the current school board, former school board Sara Pearson, Andrea Swenson, administrator Cheryl Wozniak.
“I am so grateful to all of you and will miss everyone. This is my last board meeting.”
Following Booker, Evans stepped to the podium to thank the panel.
“It’s an honor to be here,” he said. “There is no other place I would want to be but here.
“I got so excited about the Warriors playoffs I have on two different shoes tonight,” which drew chuckles from the panel and audience.
Evans will be paid $234,065 for his assignment that ends June 30, 2023. He will also receive health benefits. He retired in 2019, but the Piedmont spot lured him out of retirement he said.
Evans has 30 years as an educator, most recently as superintendent for Berkeley Unified School District for six years. He was two years with Hayward Unified School District, and served also as principal earlier at Burckhalter Elementary in Oakland, East Palo Alto Charter School and Compton Unified.
Evans obtained his bachelor’s from University of Delaware where he grew up. He earned his masters in education from United State International University and his doctorate in 2010 from UC-Berkeley. He lives in Oakland. He received in 2018 the Marcus Foster Educator of the Year Award from the California Association of African-American superintendents.
In other business:
· The board approved a tentative agreement between the district and California School Employees Association (CSEA) Chapter 60, that members receive a one-time salary bonus of $2,750 from the Measure H funds remaining from 2021-22 and 2022-23. The fiscal impact is $412,812 for the bonuses from the Measure H parcel tax for educator retention.
· Non-profit Piedmont Makers has pledged $420,000 to purchase and install specific types of lab equipment and hire a lab manager for several years. In 2016, Piedmont voters approved a $66 million school facilities bond to modernize and improve education programs. That included constructing the new Piedmont High STEAM classroom and lab facilities. Makers is dedicated to support and inspire STEAM education. There are conditions with the donation, much of which is anonymous. The lab and adjoining spaces will be made available for community use outside school hours. Fees to use the lab will cover insurance, energy use, security and other costs. The board approved naming the three facilities for pioneering women in science. Annie Jump Cannon born in 1863 went on to help develop a system for organizing and classifying stars, the Harvard Classification System. Raye Montague was the first person to design a ship using a computer. In the 1950s no university provided an engineering program for women of color, so Montague joined the U.S. Navy and earned a professional engineer certification there. Mary G. Ross was the first known Native American female engineer and first female engineer at Lockheed. She worked on aerospace design, Agena rocket program and interplanetary travel.