CUSD Superintendent Announces Retirement

In closed session at its Oct. 12, 2011 meeting, the (CUSD) Board of Trustees accepted District Superintendent John A. Roach’s resignation for the purpose of retirement, effective June 30, 2012. Dr. Roach has served as Superintendent since 2004.

In a statement to the Board, Dr. Roach said he felt “both a sense of satisfaction and a touch of sadness…. Satisfaction, because as a governance team we have worked well together through difficult times focused on doing our best for the students of Carlsbad; sadness, of course, because Carlsbad Unified has been my professional home since 2004. I thank you for allowing me to lead for these eight years. It has been a pleasure working with you, our leadership team, the site administrators, and our staff.”

Board President Lisa Rodman told Dr. Roach, “On behalf of the Board members here today and all of the Trustees over the past eight years, I want to express our gratitude for your strong leadership. Through good times and challenging times, you have served us well; with integrity, honesty, and always with the best interests of our students at heart. It is this Board’s expectation that you will continue to do so each and every day through June 30^th. We expect you to bring us recommendations that will allow us to balance our budget and remain a going concern while continuing to focus on student achievement. If that means a reduction in services or difficult negotiations, so be it. It is our expectation that you will work just as hard on our District’s behalf for the next eight months as you have over the last eight school years. These are tough times and we are counting on your leadership.” She said the Board will schedule a special closed session meeting on November 4, 2011 to discuss succession plans.

In his statement, Dr. Roach related an early experience that he said set the stage for his work at the District. “My family and I had moved to Carlsbad. My wife, Johanna, took our son, Brent, to look at , where he would enroll in the fall. They encountered Fern Hartzler, the custodian, who took the time to provide an impromptu tour of the campus, answer their questions, and assure Brent he would have a good experience attending Magnolia. The custodian had no idea that she was talking to the new superintendent’s family. She was simply doing the right thing. In Carlsbad we try to do the right thing every day. It is simple to say but not always easy to do.”

Dr. Roach concluded his statement by telling the Board, “Thank you for bringing me to Carlsbad and for encouraging and trusting me to do the right thing.”

Press Release from CUSD