SFUD Press Release announcing Superintendent Carlos Garcia

Here are the highlights from SFUSD's press release, including a nice selection of quotes:

San Francisco School Board Selects Carlos Garcia for Superintendent

June 13, 2007 (San Francisco, CA) — The San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education voted yesterday evening to employ Carlos Garcia as the District’s next superintendent.

"We chose Mr. Garcia because of his past experience with San Francisco, his strong track record as a superintendent and his understanding of the challenges that our district faces," said Board President Mark Sanchez.

A superintendent for eleven years, Carlos Garcia has overseen districts with enrollments ranging from 7,800 to 300,000 students including two large urban school districts - Fresno, California, and Clark County, Nevada. Clark County District is one of the largest in the country.

Garcia was principal at San Francisco’s Horace Mann Middle School from 1988 to 1991. During his tenure, the school was restructured, student achievement improved, and the school was designated as both a California Distinguished school and a Blue Ribbon school. Under his leadership Mann was one of the first middle schools in the country to implement block scheduling and there was a long waiting list of families seeking admission.

"San Francisco is a place that is very dear to both my wife and me. I’m excited to be able to work with one of the better school districts in the country,’" said Carlos Garcia. "I’m looking forward to working with a strong team from classified staff to teachers to administrators as well as the school board because no one person can do it all. If we put kids at the forefront and we work together, we’ll succeed."

Mr. Garcia began his career in education in 1975 and has held several roles, including teacher, principal, central office administrator, and leader in effective classroom instruction. He is currently Vice President of Urban Markets for McGraw-Hill, which is an educational materials publishing company.

Commissioner Hydra Mendoza explained, "His broad experience at a state and national level as well as his combined public and private sector perspective make him a strong leader whom we believe will continue to engage diverse community members in support of our schools."

[...]"In conversations with several school board members in Nevada, we heard that Carlos Garcia has a strong track record as a prudent fiscal manager and strategic innovator," remarked Board Vice President Norman Yee.

Veteran Commissioner Jill Wynns stated, "Having been through this process two other times, I was impressed by the caliber of the candidates and the way the board worked together to arrive at this decision. I am confident that we have matched our community’s needs with a superintendent who has experience as an effective leader of large-scale improvements in urban school districts."