School District Chief Resigns to Join Wife

David Hagen, the popular superintendent of the Huntington Beach Union High School District, has announced that he is resigning his post to follow his wife to her new job in Pennsylvania.

“I know that I could not have pursued my professional goals without her support the past 27 years, and--although it is difficult to leave Huntington Beach--she deserves my support at this time in her career,” Hagen said in a prepared statement.

Hagen’s wife, Ronee, has already begun her new job as executive vice president of Alumax Inc., an aluminum manufacturer in Pottsville, Pa.

Hagen, 51, will give up his $105,000-a-year post as superintendent in late August or early September to join her, said Bonnie Castrey, president of the district’s school board.

Castrey does not believe Hagen will have trouble finding new employment.

“He’s really excelled in his field,” she said Friday. “He’ll have a lot of options in education and he’s a very fine businessman himself.”

The superintendent, who helped the district downsize as student enrollment dropped from 24,000 to 13,000, began his career in Huntington Beach Union as a teacher and coach in 1969.

He was named principal of Fountain Valley High School in 1980 and moved into the district office two years later, winning the superintendent post in 1991.

District trustees were impressed with Hagen’s financial acumen and his ability to keep various factions in the district working in sync.

“Dave has created an environment where labor and management work very closely together,” Castrey said.

“Dave oversaw the strategic planning that our district has done. . . . All eight of our [school] sites have developed strategic plans.”

Castrey said the school board will begin searching for a new superintendent next week and hopes to have one in place by the time Hagen leaves.