Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez will remain with Stockton Unified School District until at least the 2027–2028 school year. The district’s board of education voted 5–1 to extend her contract at their meeting on Tuesday.
For many parents and teachers, Rodriguez appears to be turning things around. Since 2005, no Stockton Unified superintendent has remained in the job for longer than two years; a 2021 civil grand jury report called the district a “revolving door for superintendents.” Rodriguez is the 14th superintendent in almost 20 years.
Patricia Mosqueda, a district parent, said through a translator during public comment that Rodriguez had “given us back our faith and confidence.”
“Our superintendent is a breath of fresh air for our district,” said Luis Talamantes, reading a public comment for fellow Cesar Chavez High School music teacher Arthur Coleman. “The kind, nurturing leadership model that she possesses is warm and friendly. Compassion is needed these days, and on top of that, she takes care of business.”
Rodriguez was hired last summer from Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Watsonville on an initial three-year contract. At Tuesday’s meeting, the board voted 5–1 to approve her employment for the next four years at a base salary of $306,800. Trustee AngelAnn Flores, who attended the meeting virtually, voted no, and Trustee Alicia Rico left the meeting before the vote took place. Both Rico and Flores declined to comment when reached by phone.
Rodriguez said last year that she hoped to stay with Stockton Unified for “seven or eight years” and retire in Stockton. Her two predecessors in the permanent superintendent job, John Deasy and John Ramirez Jr., both resigned before finishing their initial three-year terms. Their resignations proved costly for the district, as both were set to receive a year of pay after leaving (Ramirez’s resignation agreement was eventually terminated after nine months).
In her first months as superintendent, Rodriguez hosted a series of town halls to develop a list of 44 goals for the district, from cutting down on expensive consultants to expanding ethnic studies and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. Twenty-nine of those have since been accomplished, including safety updates at school sites and expanding professional development.
However, many challenges remain for Stockton Unified, a high-poverty district and the largest in San Joaquin County. About one in three students in the district missed at least 10 percent of instructional days in the past school year, according to a presentation given at Tuesday’s meeting. The district plans to address this issue through measures like Saturday school, Director of Admissions, Attendance and Child Welfare Ryan Hesse said during the meeting.
Stockton Unified’s test scores also continue to lag behind state averages. In 2023, only 28 percent of students scored proficient marks in English on state testing; in math, only 17 percent were proficient in math.
Additionally, the district has a long list of recommendations and corrective actions still to implement from a state audit, the San Joaquin County Office of Education, the California Department of Education, and a civil grand jury. The audit, released in February 2023, found “sufficient evidence” that the district had engaged in fraud or other illegal fiscal practices, including several instances where Stockton Unified had awarded contracts to vendors without a competitive bidding process or in violation of its own procurement procedures. A subsequent investigation by the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office is ongoing.
Miriam Waldvogel is serving a summer internship with Stocktonia. She attends Princeton University and is a Stockton native.