Hermosa Beach names interim school chief
Retiring school Superintendent Bruce Newlin with former school board member Greg Breen and current member Jack Burns, shortly before the mayor’s State of the City address in March. Photo
Reaching into the past to go forward, the city school district has appointed former Superintendent Alan Rasmussen to the post on an interim basis, while a permanent replacement is sought for Bruce Newlin, whose three-year commitment to the post has ended.
Rasmussen, 64, previously led the Hermosa district for three years ending in 2000, when he left to helm the larger, 11,000-student Merced City School District.
At Hermosa, Rasmussen steered the 1,300-student, K-8 district through state-mandated class size reduction and overhauls of writing and technology programs.
“It will be hard to leave Hermosa Beach. In all my years working, this has been my premier time,” Rasmussen said upon leaving Hermosa. “Sometimes when you’re in a comfortable spot and you make a change you think, what am I doing? But you’ve got to take those risks if you want to take the next step.”
The Hermosa school board tried hard to keep Rasmussen, a popular and respected superintendent, but could not match Merced’s salary offer or the challenge of running a 16-school district.
Newlin announced his resignation in July, sticking to a timetable he announced when he came out of retirement for the superintendent’s job.
He told the school board that he had hoped to shepherd the district through the economic downturn.
“I don’t see that happening in the short or even mid-range future, and it is not my goal to become the oldest sitting superintendent in the United States,” he told the board. “At this point, I feel I have contributed all that I can at this point in my career.”
Newlin urged educators to focus on “educational sustainability” as new models surface such as online teaching and “blended learning,” which combines computer-based teaching with in-person teaching.
School board members said Newlin brought to the district a more cooperative form of labor negotiations called “interest-based bargaining,” and helped spearhead a comprehensive ongoing study of the district’s financial future.
Newlin also steered the district during “Project Forward,” a push for greater financial accountability and clearer communication with the public, which followed a failed parcel-tax measure under his predecessor.