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The Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees will be voting on the appointment of a new interim superintendent during this Thursday’s board meeting.
The new appointee will step in as Superintendent David Haglund gets set to leave the district at the end of the month.
Haglund initially chose Aug. 1 as his last day in order to make sure he could help Deputy Superintendent Ed Diolazo transition to take over as the permanent superintendent, aligning with the initial succession plan that the board previously adopted.
But when Haglund learned the board would be hiring an interim superintendent and not choose Diolazo as the permanent superintendent right away, he said he figured he could leave sooner. According to Thursday’s agenda report, Haglund’s last day at PUSD will be June 30.
“When the board determined to go a different direction than outlined in the succession plan, my involvement became less critical given that a retired superintendent in an interim role would be able to coordinate the needed activities with the support of the executive team,” Haglund told the Weekly.
Haglund first announced that he will be moving back to southern California in order to be closer to family back in late April. Since then, the school board has been holding closed session meetings to discuss the appointment of an interim superintendent.
Last week, the board met three different days to discuss the topic.
The district even posted a job opening on EDJOIN, a job site for educators, for the interim position. The job opening was posted on May 24 and was closed on June 5.
Now, according to Thursday’s agenda report, the board is ready to appoint a new interim superintendent.
“The board intends to discuss and vote on the appointment of an interim superintendent during our closed session meeting,” PUSD Board President Mary Jo Carreon told the Weekly. She said she couldn’t comment further until after the closed doors meeting.
Haglund said it would be beneficial for folks to attend or watch the meeting so that the board can recap and report on the closed session appointment during the public hearing portion of the meeting.
“It is not appropriate for those conversations to be held outside of that process — at least not before they have been discussed publicly,” Haglund said.
According to the agenda report, following the closed session appointment the board will be looking to approve the employment agreement for the interim superintendent. The agreement stipulates that the new hire will begin July 1 and will serve until June 30, 2025 — unless the district hires a permanent superintendent, in which case the interim superintendent will be terminated.
The employment contract states that the interim superintendent will have a base salary of $1,500 every day and will not exceed $74,733. There will also be a monthly reimbursement stipend up to $1,000.
According to the agenda report, the funds for the interim superintendent will come from the district’s general fund.
As for Diolazo, instead of taking over as permanent superintendent, the board will be looking to approve a new employment agreement which states that in addition to his role of deputy superintendent, Diolazo will now take over the duties of the assistant superintendent of educational services.
This comes after William Nelson, outgoing assistant superintendent of educational services, decided to take a similar job in southern California. Like Haglund, Nelson’s last day will also be June 30.
It’s not clear in the employment agreement if Diolazo will also maintain his role and responsibilities as assistant superintendent of student support services, which he had already held when he got bumped to deputy superintendent in August 2022.
Diolazo’s new base salary will be $262,944, which is an increase from his previous salary of $259,134.
The board will also be voting on an employment agreement for assistant superintendent of business services Ahmad Sheikholeslami where he will be set to receive a salary increase to bring his overall base salary up to $$262,944.
The board’s open-session meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday (June 13). The closed session portion of the meeting will begin at 5 p.m. Read the full agenda here.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly outlined the district’s succession plan, which would have transitioned the deputy superintendent to take over as the superintendent, rather than the interim position. The Pleasanton Weekly regrets the error.
Salary increases for the exec team and decreases for the support staff…what’s “right-size” with this picture?