Marnie Hazleton, superintendent of New Jersey’s Englewood Public School District, is headed across the country to lead the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District in San Jose, California. Hazelton previously served as superintendent of Linden Public Schools in New Jersey and the Roosevelt Union Free School District in New York.
Hazelton has been credited with raising student achievement, improving community engagement and advancing edtech during her leadership career.
Former Hartford Public Schools superintendent and CEO Leslie Torres-Rodriguez has been named the next leader of New York’s East Ramapo Central School District. In Connecticut, she spearheaded “a community-driven, equity-based budgeting process that helped the district responsibly navigate more than $140 million in cumulative budget pressures while broadening opportunities and improving outcomes for all students,” her new district said in a statement.
In Indiana, Valparaiso Community Schools chose Brian Smith as its next superintendent. Smith previously led the School Town of Highland for 13 years and the North Newton School Corporation. In Alabama, Jon Bret Smith, who has led Lawrence County Schools since 2017, was selected as the next Muscle Shoals City Schools superintendent.
Texarkana Independent School District Superintendent Doug Brubaker has also found a new home and is set to take the helm of Chesapeake Public Schools in Virginia on Aug 13. Under his leadership, Texarkana ISD passed a $189 million levy for capital upgrades, several of the district’s highest-poverty schools posted significant academic gains and more high school graduates earned associate’s degrees.
Two interim superintendents were promoted to the permanent position: Marty McRae at Baldwin County Public Schools (Alabama) and Destiney Ross-Putney at Vance County Schools (North Carolina),
More new hires
- Julie Donlon-Yates, Genesee Valley BOCES (New York)
- Steve Dunn, Broken Arrow Public Schools (Oklahoma)
- Ray Fausel, Vista del Mar Union School District (California)
- Tinisha Hamberlin, Eastside Union School District (California)
- Jennifer L. Hills-Papetti, Vernon Public Schools (Connecticut)
- Beth Hutson, Deer Lakes School District (Pennsylvania)
- Stephanie Johnson, Rockdale County Public Schools (Georgia)
- Amanda Lezotte, Brandywine Community Schools (Michigan)
- Joseph McDonald, Romeo Community Schools (Michigan)
- David Morris, Stringtown Public Schools (Oklahoma)
- Shannon Pitcher-Boyea, Whitney Point Central School District (New York)
- Mark Platfoot, New Knoxville Local School (Ohio)
- Karen Ray, Union Parish School District (Louisiana)
- Jennifer Schwanke, Dublin City Schools (Ohio)
- Tiffani Shirley, Brazos ISD (Texas)
- Thomas Welch, Salem Public Schools (Massachusetts)
