Dublin Students Say Goodbye To Superintendent Marken

DUBLIN, CA — The Dublin Unified School District community said goodbye to Superintendent Dave Marken after 16 years of service to local schools.

Marken cried at the sight of a surprise farewell car parade organized by staff, the school district said. DUSD community members socially distanced and said their goodbyes to Marken, carrying signs that said "Marken for president," "Thank you Dr. Marken" and "Amazing leader, amazing person."

Marken also addressed the DUSD community in a video posted by the school district online. He spoke of how he'd been listening to "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles and was truck by the song's final line: "It's all right."

"I just want to assure our staff and our families and our students: Everything will be all right," he said. "The sun will rise, life will go on and certainly there will be some changes."

Marken thanked his staff for welcoming him and working tirelessly for students. He told families and students that their perseverance and striving for excellence "never ceases to amaze me."

Marken came out retirement last year to serve as superintendent of the district's 14 schools and oversee 12,000 students and 550 teachers during a tumultuous time with numerous vacancies. He abruptly resigned during last week's Board of Trustees meeting, saying, "If you find yourself in a situation where your bosses don't trust you and you don't trust your boss, you should no longer work for your boss anymore."

DUSD Board President Dan Cherrier said of Marken's tenure after the meeting,"It's been a lot of good with a few things that there's been some level of disagreement about."

Read more: Dublin Schools Chief Resignation Spurs Community Outcry

Marken said he didn't expect to say goodbye in this manner.

But "as John and Paul and Ringo and George said, 'It'll be all right,'" he said.

See the surprise parade:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dublin Unified School District (@dublinusd) on Jun 30, 2020 at 2:43pm PDT

Watch Marken address the DUSD community: