School Administrator Shuffle Complete

The school board has unanimously affirmed the superintendent's picks for four administrative positions that have opened up in the Piedmont Unified School District for the coming academic year.

Piedmont High School Principal Randy Booker will become the Assistant Superintendent in charge of educational services effective July 1. Rich Kitchens will then take over as principal, and counselor Ting Hsu Engelman will fill his spot as assistant principal and Wellness Center director.

That chain of promotions was prompted by the resignation of Assistant Superintendent David Roth, who is of the Buckeye Union School District in the Sierra foothills.

School board member Ray Gadbois heralded the appointments Wednesday, saying they demonstrate a prudent strategy for retaining talented personnel.

"As much as possible, I think it's the right thing to do to promote from within," Gadbois said. "Highly qualified, talented people, if we don't promote them … some other school district will find them, recruit them, and give them an opportunity to grow in their careers."

Booker, for example, has been standout as PHS principal for six years and as assistant principal for two years before that. Just this year, he led a review of the high school's English Language Arts curriculum which resulted in the grade honors classes, and he helped parents comprehend district-wide financial issues by drawing the at a Budget Advisory Committee meeting. Booker confirmed in an interview that he had been contacted by a search firm this year regarding positions in other districts.

"I didn't really want to leave. … But trying something new continued to be kind of appealing," Booker said. "This is just the best situations. … I love it here."

Leadership at the elementary and middle schools is also being shuffled. Current Piedmont Middle School Assistant Principal Dan Bonnin is stepping in as assistant principal at Beach Elementary School while Principal Julie Valdez is on family leave from August 2011 to May 2012. Wildwood Elementary School Principal Carol Cramer will take on the principal duties at Beach with help from Havens Elementary School Principal Teresa Susman. Eric Mapes, a 12-year math and science veteran out of Albany, has been brought in as the new PMS assistant principal.

"We're really really excited," Superintendent Connie Hubbard said of Mapes' hiring. "We already have Eric signed up to be here this week. … He'll be walking the campus, meeting the kids."