Escondido
The board of the Escondido Union High School District unanimously approved a contract Tuesday to hire a replacement for its much-maligned superintendent, John Cooper.
Jane Gawronski, superintendent of the West Covina Union School District, will take the helm of the 5,700-student school district July 16, replacing Cooper, whom the school board asked to resign late last year after complaints about his management style.
Gawronski, whose three-year contract calls for a starting salary of $85,000 a year, has been superintendent at West Covina since 1987, bringing the district back from the brink of insolvency.
“There are challenges in Escondido, too,” Gawronski said. “But the primary challenge is a people one, not a fiscal one. Both problems require process solutions, because it takes people to provide solutions.”
Cooper, who still had one year left on his contract, will vacate his post June 30.
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