CYPRESS : Schools Get New Superintendent

William Eller has been named superintendent of the Cypress School District and will oversee a $20-million budget and 10 elementary schools.

The 44-year-old San Clemente resident replaced William B. Calton, who served as district superintendent for 25 years, on July 1.

Eller, formerly associate superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District, also worked as a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent of instruction in that district.

Eller received his master’s degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and earned a doctorate from Pepperdine University in Malibu.

Eller said he intends to meet with the community to develop a blueprint to carry Cypress schools into the next century, with an emphasis on the importance of technology to the district’s 4,100 students.

“The computer is going to be the pencil of the future,” he said. “I’m interested in staff development and student access to those tools.”

But as expectations for school services have risen, budgets to meet those demands have diminished, Eller noted. “The challenge is going to be providing quality programs given tightening fiscal resources,” he said.

Eller said his first days on the job have been “terrific.”

“I’m very impressed with this community. It’s a pleasure to walk into a well-organized school system.”