La Cañada Unified president keeps seat

Scott Tracy was selected Tuesday night to continue in his role as president of the La Cañada Unified School District.

Entering his 12th year on the board, Tracy has already served as president four times.

“He’s a leader whose qualities are characterized by intelligence, insight, attention to detail, grace, dedication and simply a work ethic that is just beyond compare,” said Supt. Wendy Sinnette, who is entering her second year as superintendent.

Prior to Tracy’s nomination, board member Susan Boyd nominated Ellen Multari, who is serving her first term on the board, to be president.

Multari, who was elected to the board in November 2011, quickly nominated Tracy.

To pass up Tracy’s experience during a time of unstable state financing “would be a gross underutilization of resources,” said Multari.

During the meeting, Tracy said La Cañada Unified recently was named the top K-12 school district out of more than 700 in the state, according to an independent study published by WestEd and written by authors with the Washington, D.C,-based American Institutes for Research.

The study, “Raising All Boats: Identifying and Profiling High Performing California School Districts,” cited 30 top districts in the state but named four as clearly superior: La Cañada, Piedmont, Carmel and Manhattan Beach.

San Marino Unified, which consistently ranks top in the state based on Academic Performance Index scores, was rated sixth in the state by the study.