Shortage of Teaching Jobs Benefits Castro Valley

The school district may have found a bright spot in the miserable economy: an unusually large pool of qualified job applicants.

Castro Valley Unified School District hired three new administrative replacements and 20 new teachers this summer.

The three admin positions were filled by Leslie Anderson, assistant superintendent of education services; Susan Passeggi, assistant principal of adult and career education; and Tony Shah, director of student services.

The new hires are filling gaps left by retired and departing staff as well as covering for temporary hires and teachers out on maternity and family leave.

Some new teachers were hired to help the district reduce class sizes.

Regardless of what position was being filled, the situation was always the same—far more applicants than normal, school officials said.

“We’re looking for a history teacher for Canyon Middle School and we already have 165 applicants for that one position,” said Sherri Beetz, assistant superintendent of human resources.

And not only were there a huge number of applicants for pretty much every job posting, said Beetz, but the number of quality applicants— particularly for the administrative jobs—was equally high.

Beetz and Superintendent Jim Negri both said most of the administrative jobs drew at least 50 applicants.

The assistant superintendent position eventually won by Leslie Anderson’s was especially competitive, said Negri.

“We had over 65 applicants that we then screened down to 16 or 18… then to six … then finally to two individuals,” said Negri.

Beetz said that although the unusual number of job applicants means more administrators and teachers are out of work, the bright spot is that Castro Valley gets to choose from the best.

“The [candidate] pool was large and very competitive,” she said. “Most had held a similar position prior to applying or sometimes even a higher rank. We were able to narrow it down to people who are very qualified, so that was great for us.”

New Faces

Anderson replaced Maggie MacIsaac, who took the position of superintendent at Burlingame School District.

Previously, Anderson was senior director of educational services for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District beginning in 2006.

Negri said Anderson is “an outstanding candidate [who] comes with a great deal of experience working in all the areas we were looking for.”

Passeggi, who has 24 years of experience in adult and career education, was previously assistant director of adult and career education for the Mt. Diablo Unified School District.

She is taking over for Judy Gestring, who is retiring.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to hire an individual with Susan’s breadth and depth of experience who is well-respected by the students and staff she serves,” said Negri.

Shah was previously the director of student support services for the Antioch Unified School District and a director of pupil services for the Centinela Valley Union High School District.

He is replacing newly retired Leslie Rothwell.

Shah has been called “supportive and knowledgeable” and someone who “focuses on the best interests of the student.”

The school district is still looking for two to three new teachers for Canyon Middle School before the start of the new school year.