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Steven Enoch, San Ramon Valley Unified School District’s superintendent of schools, recently announced that he plans to retire on June 30. Enoch has served as the district’s superintendent for four years and has served as a superintendent in California and Washington state for 18 years.
“Through Steve’s leadership, our district has continued to grow by all measures including student achievement, changing teaching and learning through technology, student enrollment and our focus on helping every child succeed to the best of his or her ability,” said Board of Education Member Paul Gardner. “While I congratulate him on a job extraordinarily well done and wish him a happy, healthy and productive retirement, I will miss him.”
Enoch announced his retirement to employees in his weekly message, noting that he was proud of the progress the district and the community have made together.
“There are many accomplishments for which we should all be extremely proud,” he said. “Despite struggling with the most severe economic recession of our lives, we have not taken our eye off the ball as we have continued to address core academic skills and post-high school preparation with great success. Many of our classrooms do not look the same as they did four years ago and we can and should take collective pride in this achievement.”
Enoch has over 32 years in public education and began his tenure in San Ramon Valley in 2008. Since then, SRVUSD’s API scores have been rated the eighth highest among unified school district in the state and the highest among unified districts with more than 9,000 students. In 2011, the district’s API growth score was 922, up six points from the previous year.
“Steve has been an incredible leader for this district, and will be very hard to replace,” said Rachel Hurd, clerk of the SRVUSD Board of Education. “He has challenged all of us to be an even better school district, and to think creatively about how we prepare students for the world that awaits them.”
Enoch said he will continue to be involved in education. He is interested in the challenges of urban education, leadership development, global learning connections, high school reform and changing classrooms through the infusion of technology.
“Some have said I should not leave because the work is not yet done. What we know is that this work is never done. I feel confident however, that the energy and commitment to prepare students for their future, not our past, is in our schools and classrooms, which is where it should be,” Enoch said.
The Board of Education will meet soon to determine how to proceed with the search for a new superintendent.
“We are blessed to have had amazing leadership in this district,” said Board President Greg Marvel. “While Steve will be a very tough act to follow, I am confident that the candidate pool will be deep and extremely qualified and that Steve’s successor will continue to take our district to new heights.”
Enoch agreed, stating that the commitment to education in the San Ramon Valley is strong and active.
“I feel completely confident that the balanced approach to teaching and learning will be sustained and expanded going forward. The district is blessed to have incredible teachers and support staff, along with parents and a community that deeply support public education. SRVUSD will continue to be one of the state’s more distinguished districts. It has been my honor to serve this school district and this community.”
Last April, Enoch turned down a 5 percent, or $12,000, raise and said it wasn’t the right time for a pay increase. Under Enoch’s contract, which was set to expire June 30, he qualifies for a 5 percent salary increase at the start of every fourth year if he is rated “above satisfactory.”
GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!!
Enoch said he will continue to be involved in education. He is interested in the challenges of urban education, leadership development, global learning connections, high school reform and changing classrooms through the infusion of technology.
Heard he is going to Apple.
Wish he would take those ugly solar panels with him! Those monstroscities will always be his legacy as far I am concerned. Never was impressed with his leadership or initiatives.
Sam Clemens made the best remarks on The Patch regarding the replacement we should all be wishing for!
How nice to be able to collect retirement from both Washington and California! Guess I’d leave now too, before things become worse than they possibly can…the decision to invest $$$ in solar panels, failed attempts to get the community together on any future educational ‘initiatives’ (STEM sounds GREAT – ha!) is sad. Monthly newsletters regurgitating safe, old, and trite familiarities does not make an effective superintendent. Keeping the office seat warm while business takes its own course doesn’t either. He was ready to go when he was hired, but bade his time until retirement – how lucky we have been! So can we possibly go any lower from here with the next person who will have this hocus-pocus position?
What did you actually do besides hold a position and perform the perfunctory duties, Mr. Enoch?
I have only lived in Danville for three years but having been elsewhere I have a very different perspective from some of the comments found here. I find the solar at Monte Vista to be very attractive and a strong statement about a forward thinking school district. My son loves parking under it and says that students are proud to have it on their campus.
I also find the messages and the direction here to be quite different than my experience in other districts. It is refreshing to have a superintendent and a board talking about preparing kids for their future, promoting the use of technology in classrooms and being interested in skills for life beyond what the state tests measure. I think some of you would benefit from visiting some other school districts, and you would not have to travel far, to see a much different picture.
Dear Editor,
If we use Judy’s invitation to examine SRVUSD planning and actions in a review of Mr. Enoch, his administration and the Board obligated to provide our oversight of OUR district’s educational performance, then we can, as readers establish considerations for such review by you in a home page feature. This morning, news service subscribers in our corridor are reading “What has been accomplished?” as review of SRVUSD since Rob Kessler’s and Joan Buchanan’s direction of Administration and Board actions. The general result is a highly political environment with an over-staffed administration and little maintenance and progression in teacher/student partnerships.
In general, there is much evidence of conflicts of interest by board members in failure of oversight in favor of administration’s decisions and actions. That is where your journalism might start to tell this story.
This is just too easy. Not enough room to list our farewells.
We’ve been part of this community for over 18 yrs, and never felt so mislead than with the present administration. I missed the leadership of Rob Kessler, at least a parent could carry on an intelligent conversation or debate with him. Agree or not, he did listen and guided. The current administration is simply vacant…. hollow. The last 4 years have been a educational disaster. Ooooo we got solar in our parking lots… Good Grief!!
Enoch, Farewell!
It is of great news that Enoch finally will departure and stop injuring SRVUSD more than necessary. Kessler was not the best, but at least the deficit was secure. Enoch has poor leadership and always has had, being dismissed from WA State, as well as not keeping employment longer than two years. His leadership has brought about poorer academic performance therefore that is why budget was cut, do not think that all districts budgets are cut in general it has to do with performance! He also lacked the skills to introduce and integrate the newfound minority students and ESL students, C-, he should be ashamed.
No one should commend or wish good to Enoch, it is about time that SRVUSD can flourish, and be free of all of his greed and lack of empathy. Finally, perhaps SRVUSD can finally go back to a semi-normal state, or let it fall to the ground once and for all.
Master
Ah, Judy…
Yes, the solar panels are ideally a great idea: they give our district the appearance of being progressive, bold and ‘with it’, they’re cool to look at and park under (especially on a hot or rainy day), but in light of the times with our economic budget woes, is it wise to spend millions of dollars to wait how many years to hopefully recoup the cost? While dollars are earmarked for certain areas (i.e. the district might not have been able to those designate funds for students, but use only for buildings, maintenance, etc.), surely there were other needs just as justifiable.
And in response to the superintendent’s future hopes for the district – that is all and fine, and it’s good to brain-storm, but it’s also easy to put emphasis on the shining stars out there, rather than the many other students who need to have the basic skills solidly in place before moving onto the real world. While our test scores may be high, there are still many kids who will not benefit from the dazzling ideas. It’s an open invitation to create a larger chasm between the academically have’s and have not’s. I guess that’s what happens when you live in a privileged area – you can afford to dream big, and keep on showing others that you are just that. We like to showcase what we can, and otherwise quietly keep back what we’d prefer to not – human nature. And are you aware of the “Race to Nowhere” video, and all that our youth is stressed out about? More frosting on the cake is not what these kids need.
Like asking Santa for bigger and better gifts every year, we dare to dream big, but who’s regulating dreams from reality? This tenure seems to have been about “what seemingly noteworthy accomplishments can I put down on my record for posterity” rather than keeping the ship steered straight -maybe not a very glamourous or exciting voyage, but one that is sure and directed to a worthy goal.
Another comment – Enoch himself had nothing to do with how well the students scored on the tests – to credit him to such an accomplishment is misleading, and smacks of internal back-slapping and high-fiving that continues to perpetuate in organizations where folks have been there too many years, stowed away safely from the real world.
Instead of writing in generalities, the district press letter should have been more specific with what Enoch has done, especially how it differed from the previous administration.
Ah, so much to say, so little space. I’ll echo the first comment above, GOOD RIDDANCE!
In my short time getting to know Mr. Enoch I have been seriously underwhelmed by him, his motives for the district and his poor, insincere communication style.
Bye, bye, don’t let the door hit you in the you-know-what on the way out.
Looks like Yaniv and Weary are offering to pay for the energy costs that are being saved through the use of this clean energy source (solar panels). Too bad they couldn’t have provided a more informed comment about them. The solar panels are good for the District’s energy budget and good for the environment.
I’ve lived in Danville for 4 years now, and although I don’t have kids in the school district yet, my hope is that we can return back to the fundamentals of education. His focus on technology from what I seen is short sighted – I think in his case every time you see the term “technology” is really a euphemism for “iPad 2”. Seriously, technology is an application, and our schools seem so hung up with the tool rather than application of the tool. Furthermore, the technology world is more than just ipads. I can’t help but feel that my local school, Creekside will be a guinea pig for unproven supposedly learning tool given the proposal and presentation posted on their website. What bothers me the most is seeing a video on Creekside’s website showcasing little kids in groups with iphone and ipads. Is this something to be proud of? Images like these really sadden me, as it goes against everything I’ve learned about early childhood education – communication, movement and engagement through human interaction, not by algorithms.
Anon,
Welcome to the world of Smart Phones and Stupid People.
Taking Anon’s point a bit further, I think we should go back to students having to type their papers on a typewriter. This would seriously force students to learn how to spell and use the English language properly. Our society keeps getting dumber and dumber with all of this computer software that is doing the thinking for us. Apparently, Enoch needs this technology for himself because he isn’t that smart, and he wanted to be sure none of our students were smarter than him so he wrapped up his stupidity in the word “technology” to sell it to unsuspecting parents who had no idea what uneducated person was running our district!
I have to totally agree with Catherine. Our kids are being dumbed down. A vast majority can’t even write cursive. What a shame.
Yes. The curriculum is being “dumbed down” and, simultaneously, the grades are being inflated.
I ask this at every opportunity: Are Danville parents willing to accept authentic, rather than inflated, grades?
Re. the Supt. I slightly disagree with Catherine: “Technology” was a synonym for “resume building.”
The worst thing the district can do next is to hire a superintendent from the west bay who may be looking to escape her ghetto district. Bad news!!!
I’m hearing rumors from district employees that Enoch and Black are being forced out because of indiscretions. I know that they are basically hated by district employees, so I wonder if the rumors are true? What did they do? We need to avoid the same hiring mistakes as before and empower the board to lead this district. We haven’t had real leadership for a long time, and the Superintendent and his/her staff work for the Board of Education.