Fullerton Joint Union Hires Superintendent
The superintendent of Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District was hired Friday to take over the top post at the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.
Michael Escalante, 48, will begin his new assignment July 1, the day after Supt. J. Kenneth Jones retires.
Escalante, chosen from 33 applicants, said he sought the position because “the district has an outstanding academic reputation.”
“The schools here have been successful,” he said Friday after the school board voted unanimously to hire him. “It’s really a cutting-edge school district, and it’s quite an honor to be here.”
Escalante has been an elementary, junior high and high school teacher, a principal, a deputy superintendent and a superintendent over the past 24 years. Before becoming superintendent at Palos Verdes, he worked for the Hawthorne, Centinela Valley Union High, Santa Monica-Malibu and Long Beach school districts.
In his new position, he will oversee the Fullerton district’s budget and personnel at its eight high schools, which have a total enrollment of 13,707.
He will earn the same salary that Jones now makes: $108,236 a year.
Jones, 60, said he will take a part-time job as executive director of a school research and service business based in Mission Viejo.
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