Head of Valley School Cluster Leaving LAUSD

Yvonne Davis, who heads the Van Nuys/Grant cluster for the Los Angeles Unified School District, is leaving to take a job as assistant superintendent of an Orange County school district.

Davis, 58, will become the assistant superintendent in charge of educational services at Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District beginning Monday. Her last day with the Los Angeles district is today, she said.

“I’ve been with the district 33 years and wasn’t looking for a job,” she said. “I was told about it and applied, went through the screening process and they offered me the position.”

Davis said she is taking an unpaid “opportunity leave” from the district to allow her to fulfill a three-year contract with the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. She will oversee instruction and the principals of 29 schools in grades kindergarten to 12, said James Fleming, district superintendent.

Davis will be paid $98,250 annually, officials said, slightly less than her current salary of $99,467 at LAUSD.

“I really don’t know what’s going to happen, that’s why you keep your options open and see what you want to do after three years,” Davis said.

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Davis and her husband recently sold their Northridge home and have made an offer on a house in Anaheim Hills, she said, adding that relocation will mean her husband will no longer have to leave the house at 4:45 a.m. to get to his job in Orange County.

She will be replaced by Carmen Terrazas, a retired LAUSD cluster administrator. Terrazas will fill in on an interim basis until a replacement is found, Davis said.

Davis began her career as a teacher at Pacoima Elementary School. She later held jobs such as assistant principal, principal and administrator of elementary regions before becoming cluster administrator in 1994.