The Cupertino Union School District announced the selection of a new Superintendent, Dr. Craig Baker. The selection comes after several months of controversy. Previous Superintendent Wendy Gudalewicz, was ousted in March and departed the post in April. Baker’s contract is still pending approval by the Board on August 15, and he is slated to begin October 1.
“It has been deeply gratifying to have our board and community come together for the selection process,” said Anjali Kausar, President of the CUSD Board of Education. “We all agree that Dr. Baker has the proven ability and experience to enable CUSD to remain a top performing district that will continue to provide the best education possible for all students.”
Baker brings more than 22 years of experience in as a teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent in the Pajaro Valley and Redwood City School Districts. He served the last 8 years as the superintendent of the San Carlos School District.
Previously, Baker was the Executive Director of the Robert N. Noyce Center for Learning at The Tech Museum of Innovation and spent two years on the School Board for the Redwood City Elementary School District. He received his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the University of California Santa Cruz and his doctorate in education from the University of San Francisco.
The Cupertino Union School District currently serves approximately 18,600 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Cupertino and parts of Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, west San Jose, Los Altos and Saratoga.
The board will meet to consider Baker’s contract at 6 p.m. Aug. 15 at Nimitz Elementary School; 545 Cheyenne Dr., Sunnyvale.