Palo Alto USD Administrator Takes New Role In SoCal

PALO ALTO, CA – A Palo Alto administrator has taken a new role with a Southern California school district.

Karen Hendricks is giving up her post as Palo Alto Unified School District’s deputy superintendent to become a top administrator in San Bernardino County.

Hendricks has served the PAUSD since July 2017. Her tenure with the district includes serving nine months as interim superintendent in the aftermath of Max McGee’s 2017 resignation, Palo Alto Weekly reports.

Hendricks will take over as Alto Loma School District’s superintendent of schools Feb. 1.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join the Alta Loma School District community,” Hendricks said in a statement.

Hendricks has been a teacher and administrator at the elementary school and high school levels and has held a variety of leadership roles with several school districts.

Hendricks began her career in education in 1988 as an elementary school teacher in the Northern California communities of Orcutt and Corralitos before accepting the position of high school summer school principal for the Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Watsonville, and later assistant principal at Watsonville High School.

She eventually took a principal’s position at an elementary school in Aptos, California.

Hendricks was hired as the coordinator of program evaluation for the Pajaro Valley USD, where she was responsible for testing services, data disaggregation and analysis, and training school administrators and staffs in the use of student data.

She later became outreach coordinator and then director of the school leadership development team at the district’s new teacher center, where she coached new elementary and secondary principals and conducted nationwide school administrator trainings.

As assistant superintendent of human resources for Santa Cruz City Schools from 2010-2014, she oversaw more than 700 certified and classified staff.

In 2014 Hendricks joined the Carmel Unified School District as chief human resources officer and then as interim superintendent.

Hendricks is a longtime member of the Association of California School Administrators and was recognized by ACSA as the 2017 recipient of the Region 10 Ken McCombs Awards for her commitment to the education community.

Hendricks also served on the Personnel, Pension and Investment Committee for the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Board of Directors, and she was previously associated with The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, which promotes personal and professional growth of women educators and excellence in education.

She has presented at educational conferences and has served on review panels for doctoral proposals at San Francisco State University.

Hendricks earned her M.A. in educational administration at the University of San Francisco.

“During this unique time in education, the work we will do together on behalf of each of our learners is a tremendous opportunity," Hendricks said.

"As I prepare to relocate to the district in January, I’m looking forward to meeting the students, staff and parents with whom I’ll be partnering.”