EAST PALO ALTO, California––Nov. 10, 2006––The Ravenswood City School District (RCSD) Board of Trustees today named Maria De La Vega to the position of superintendent of RCSD. De La Vega was appointed interim superintendent in July 1, 2005.

“The Board decision to offer Ms. De La Vega the position of superintendent is based on her superb leadership in terms of fiscal responsibiity and positive academic growth,” said Jacqueline Wallace-Green, board president. “As interim superintendent, Ms. De La Vega has developed a master plan that centers on instructional excellence within a supportive, responsive and collaborative environment that includes teachers, administrators, parents and the community. She also has demonstrated an ability to fact a multitude of challenges. We commend her, and welcome her into this new position.”

De La Vega started her interim position at a time when the district was beset by challenges such as the threat of a state takeover, low teacher retention, low teacher salaries, teachers that didn’t meet the federal credentialing requirements for the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, low district test scores and more.

One year later, RCSD is no longer under the threat of a state takeover, teacher retention is at an all time high of 87 percent, teachers received a salary increase, and 99 percent of teachers now meet NCLB requirements. In another measure of success, RCSD doubled the average statewide growth in academic performance with API scores that jumped from 614 to 638. API, the cornerstone of California's Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999, measures the academic performance and growth of schools on a variety of academic measures. Average statewide API growth was 11 points.

De La Vega joined RCSD in 2001 as Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction with responsibility for the overall monitoring of educational services and student progress, including supervision of the departments of technology, special projects, library/assessments, after school programs, student services, multilingual and curriculum and instruction.

Before coming to Ravenswood, she worked for 14 years with underperforming school districts in several states including New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland. She has held the positions of Director of Grants and Program Compliance for New York, Virginia, California and Massachusetts, Director of State and Federal Program, English as a Second Language in Ithaca, New York. Ms De La Vega also served as a secondary assistant principal, elementaryschool principal, elementary school teacher, and elementary bilingual multicultural specialist. She holds a California administrative service credential.