Bellevue’s new school superintendent will be Dr. Amalia Cudeiro. The School Board voted to open contract negotiations with her at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Sunday. The motion was unanimous.
Dr. Cudeiro is presently a Senior Partner at Targeted Leadership Consulting and was previously the Deputy Superintendent for the Boston Public Schools, and principal at both the Santa Monica Unified School District and the Baldwin Park Unified School District, in California.
“This district deserves the very best,” board vice president Paul Mills moments before the board made its decision.
The board had considered three finalists for the position vacated when Dr. Mike Riley left to join The College Board in 2007. In addition to Gudeiro, finalists included Dr. Susan Enfield and Dr. Stephen Fink. Dr. Fink withdrew from consideration Saturday.
All the candidates were “exceptional,” said board member Michael Murphy, noting all wanted to close the achievement gap among students in the district.
Dr. Cudeiro “brings an interesting aspect to the job,” Murphy said.
She was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States as a young child. She has been the Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard University Urban Superintendents Program and received her Ph.D. from Harvard University.
“It’s a very inspirational story,” Murphy added.
Teacher’s union president Michelle Miller said all the candidates had strengths and weaknesses. She added she was was impressed with the many avenues the school board offered for people to get involved with the superintendent search.
Each board member spoke at the meeting. They said they had been looking for an instructional leader, a bridge builder and someone who would challenge leaders in an intelligent way and that all candidates met their criteria.
The board members reviewed the more than 600 comments and used the information in subsequent interviews with each candidate. Board member Judy Bushnell expressed the hope that staff and community will join together and move forward in support of Dr. Cudeiro.
Board members added that Dr. Cudeiro has a track record of building strong teams and working with teacher and administrator teams.
As board member Peter Bentley noted, Dr. Cudeiro wants Bellevue to be “the” model of how to close the achievement gap.”
Dr. Cudeiro met with the Bellevue community on Friday, March 20, telling a public forum that “My personal history guides my values and beliefs when it comes to education.”
She credited her own personal academic success to having access to a rigorous and challenging curriculum, teachers, principals and adults who pushed her to do her best, and parents who had extremely high expectations of her.
“Bellevue embodies those three elements; a challenging curriculum, committed teachers and parents,” she said. “For me, that’s my connection with Bellevue. It aligns with my values and beliefs.”
When asked when Dr. Cudeiro might start as superintendent, Bushnell said, sooner rather than later. The district has been led by interim superintendent Dr. Karen Clark since Dr. Riley left.
