Glendale Unified makes an offer to superintendent candidate
The Glendale school board announced Wednesday morning that they unanimously agreed to extend an offer to Winfred Roberson, Jr., to take the helm of Glendale Unified.
Roberson is the current superintendent of the Davis Joint Unified School District.
The Glendale school board has unanimously agreed to offer Winfred Roberson Jr., the current superintendent at Davis Joint Unified School District, the top job at Glendale Unified, officials announced Wednesday.
The announcement came one day after Glendale school board members held a special meeting at Davis Joint Unified to interview members of the public there regarding Roberson’s potential hire.
The board plans to vote on Roberson’s contract during a meeting on Feb. 16, said Christine Walters, Glendale school board president, in a statement.
“The board is very excited about the opportunity for Winfred to bring his leadership and experience to [Glendale Unified],” Walters said. “We believe that his vision and passion for public education will allow us to continue our tradition of excellence and to continue our work of preparing our students for their future.”
Roberson, who did not respond to a request for comment, would take the helm of a district with wide-ranging student demographics, particularly compared to Davis Joint Unified, where he has worked as superintendent since 2010.
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At Davis Joint Unified during the 2014-15 school year, there were 8,626 students enrolled compared to 26,169 in Glendale, according to the California Department of Education.
During the same academic year, there were 904 English-language learners in Davis’ district, while there were 6,268 English learners in Glendale schools.
Data also show there were 1,882 socioeconomically disadvantaged students in Davis compared to 12,926 in Glendale during the same year.
The state defines socioeconomically disadvantaged students as those whose parents do not have high school diplomas or who are eligible to receive free or reduced-priced meals.
Students’ scores last year on the state standardized exams, known as the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, also varied between the two districts.
At Davis, 69% of students who took the English portion of the exam met or exceeded the standard, while 64% of students met or exceeded the math standard.
Those figures compared to the 58% of Glendale students who met or exceeded the English part of the test, while 49% of students achieved the same on the math section.
Glendale Unified began its search for a new superintendent after Dick Sheehan took the top post at Covina-Valley Unified in May.
One of the board’s main objectives in its search was to hire a superintendent who had prior experience in that role.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
