San Juan public schools new ‘Super’ to shed Texas ties
Published 10:56 am Tuesday, March 24, 2015
A change in climate isn’t the only thing in store.
An even more dramatic change, in size and enrollment, awaits for the heir apparent of San Juan Island School District’s top administrative post.
Dr. Dianna Diaz, assistant superintendent of family engagement for the El Paso Independent School District, last week accepted the job of superintendent of San Juan Island public schools. School district Chairman Jack McKenna is confident a contract agreement will be reached in short-order and that the pieces will all be in place for Diaz to be named superintendent at the March 25 meeting of the school board.
Of the finalists for the job, McKenna said that Diaz proved the best match to fulfill the board’s top priority for its new superintendent, “by far.”
“We really want someone who can communicate,” he said. “Communication skills was our number one prerequisite for the position. She seems like a real people person.”
If all goes according to plan, Diaz will succeed current superintendent Rick Thompson, who will take over the top post at the Chimacum School District at the end of the school year. She was among five finalists and one of the top three candidates the board then selected for a series of on-island interviews.
“As a parent with young children I’m keenly interested in making our schools academically successful,” school board director Jen Furber said in a press release. “Our schools must also be places where students are excited to go, feel safe, and have a strong sense of belonging. Dr. Diaz shares these values and I’m glad she will be working with us.”
For the 54-year-old career-educator, communication skills would appear to be key. In her current assignment in El Paso, Diaz is entrusted with providing leadership for a district that’s home to more than 60,000 students and 94 campuses and, with 9,000 employees and an annual operating budget of $483 million, stands out as one of the largest school districts in a state where, as the saying goes, everything is big.
In comparison, San Juan public schools operates on yearly budget of roughly $7.5 million and 2014-15 school year enrollment hovered around 750.
Still, bigger isn’t necessarily better and Diaz, born and raised in Manhattan, is thrilled about a first-ever opportunity to be the chief administrator of a school district, even if it pales in size and enrollment to that of El Paso. That the district is on a small island in the heart of the Salish Sea and borders British Columbia makes it that much better, Diaz said.
She and her husband, a journalist with the Vancouver Sun who retired several years back, maintain a home near Vancouver, B.C. and have family in the Pacific Northwest. Diaz is the mother of a 38-year-old daughter and has an 8-year-old grandson who live in Texas.
“We’re kind of ‘island people’ already,” she said. “And we really love being in a small city.”
A two-time “Teacher of the Year” award-winner, Diaz began her career in education in the classroom, as a bilingual teacher in 1987. She earned a master’s degree in administration at Houston-Clear Lake and later a doctorate in philosophy in educational administration at The University of Texas at Austin. She has been an administrator in the field of education for 20-plus years.
Friday Harbor High School Principal Fred Woods is impressed with the depth of Diaz’ resume.
“She has the skills and knowledge to move us forward as we work to make sure our graduates continue to have an education that is well matched to the next steps of their lives, whether that is the world of work or further education,” Woods said in a press release.
Diaz won’t come to San Juan Island empty-handed. She has ideas that might lead to a boost in enrollment, toured the high school’s soon-to-be completed STEM building and previously shared a tentative 5-point transition plan with the school board. Still, the core of her would-be administration can best be described, she said, in simple terms: “To listen and learn.”
