SANTA PAULA : Superintendent of Schools to Retire

Trustees for the Santa Paula Union High School District will meet in special session today to accept the retirement of Supt. Carolina L. Erie, who is credited with restoring order to the once-troubled district.

Erie, 57, will leave the 1,300-student district June 30, nearly four years after she was hired to oversee the district during a time of financial and labor problems.

She was the first superintendent hired by the district to serve solely as superintendent. Previous administrators had served as both district superintendent and principal of Santa Paula High School.

Before Erie was hired, the district had four principal-superintendents in four years because of financial difficulties and a bitter contract dispute, said Santa Paula High Principal Bob Fisher.

“She brought organization and stability to the district,” Fisher said.

Trustee Donna Nelson praised Erie for improving relations between the administration and teachers, hiring able administrators and increasing training for the district’s teachers.

“We’re sorry to see her go because she’s been a force for good in our district,” Nelson said. “We’ve turned around almost 180 degrees during her administration.”

Erie, who began her career 36 years ago teaching English at Palms Junior High School in Los Angeles, was the director of secondary education for the Conejo Valley Unified School District in 1989 when Santa Paula hired her.

Since July, Erie has spent one week a month telecommuting from Spokane, Wash., where her husband Lance, the former principal of Thousand Oaks High School, had moved to teach. But she said the constant separations from her husband have taken their toll and she decided to finally retire at the end of the school year.