|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Livermore school board is poised to bring in a former colleague of new Superintendent Torie Gibson’s from Amador County to fill the district’s final vacant cabinet position — roughly a month after quietly parting ways with the predecessor for undisclosed reasons.
As part of its meeting on Tuesday (Sept. 3), the trustees are set to vote on a contract to approve Michelle Pechette as the new assistant superintendent of educational services. Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District officials announced the news last Thursday in a press release, which made no mention of why the post was open.
The district later confirmed to Livermore Vine that former assistant superintendent of educational services Melissa Theide’s contract was “terminated” by the Board of Education on Aug. 6. Additional details about the separation have not been released, and attempts to contact Theide have been unsuccessful.
If approved by the board, Pechette would be scheduled to start at LVJUSD on Oct. 1 on an employment agreement with an initial three-year term and a starting annual salary of $256,386, according to the draft contract.
“I consider myself to be a collaborative leader as I greatly value building strong relationships with educators, parents, students and the community,” Pechette said in the district’s press release. “I look forward to joining a district that offers such a diverse range of educational programs and opportunities for students and working with the strong leadership team already in place.”
Pechette has spent the past two-plus years as assistant superintendent of educational services for the Amador County Unified School District and the Amador County Office of Education — the jointly run school system based in Jackson from where LVJUSD hired Gibson away to become its new superintendent this academic year.
A career educator and mother of four whose children are now adults (one of whom is a math teacher), Pechette worked in the classroom as a teacher before entering administration. She was an elementary and middle school principal and district-level director in early education prior to taking the assistant superintendent post in Amador County, according to LVJUSD.
“Among her many responsibilities in her educational services role, she was responsible for developing and implementing district wide educational programs; creating and leading the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) which provides additional support for underserved students; and overseeing professional development of certificated staff,” LVJUSD stated.
District officials said Pechette was selected to fill the vacancy in Livermore “after a robust interview process facilitated by a panel that included representatives from site administration, district leadership, union leadership and the school board.”
Meanwhile, it remains unclear why LVJUSD parted ways with Theide just over a month into Gibson’s tenure as superintendent.
The board voted in closed session on the matter at its Aug. 6 meeting. The decision announced verbally in open session that night described unanimous approval of “a separation agreement and release with a certificated employee” but did not mention Theide by name, according to the draft minutes.
Michelle Dawson, coordinator of community engagement, confirmed on Friday that the closed-section action pertained to Theide. “The referenced contract was that of Dr. Theide’s,” Dawson said by email when asked. “Regarding Dr. Theide, her contract was terminated by the Board.”
Theide had been in the position since being promoted to assistant superintendent of educational services in February 2021, according to her Facebook page. She also cited completing her doctorate in educational administration in 2023 from Texas Tech University.
Before coming to Livermore, Theide had prior experience in the Tri-Valley. She was a principal in Pleasanton Unified School District earlier in her career, leaving Vintage Hills Elementary School to become human resources director in Castro Valley Unified in the 2015-16 school year.
