Clear Lake High principal named as Lakeport Unified’s new superintendent
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Unified School Board on Wednesday finalized its hire of the district’s new superintendent.
The board’s choice is Jill Falconer, Clear Lake High School’s principal and a veteran administrator who has spent 25 years in the district.
Following a closed session that lasted just short of a half hour, the Lakeport Unified School Board emerged to announce that it had voted unanimously to approve a three-year contract with Falconer.
Board members and an audience made up of fellow administrators, teachers, staff and parents then rose to give Falconer a standing ovation.
“I think we're all very excited,” said Board President Dan Buffalo, noting that the recruitment and hiring of the superintendent has been “an awesome experience” with outstanding candidates.
The contract the board approved on Wednesday runs from July 1 through June 30, 2022. It gives Falconer an annual salary with a beginning step of $158,475. She will advance one step per year contingent on satisfactory annual job evaluations.
She also will receive a $100,000 term life insurance policy and the district will make on her behalf the maximum amount of employer-side contributions allowable under the California State Teachers Retirement Plan.
Interim Superintendent Patrick Iaccino told Lake County News that a total of nine candidates were interviewed for the job. Eight were from California, one from Montana.
The hiring process included a committee of parents, teachers, classified staff and student board members who conducted the first round of interviews and recommended three finalists to be interviewed by the board in April.
“It was a very difficult decision,” Buffalo said, noting that all of the three finalists would make great superintendents.
Buffalo said Falconer will lead the district forward and bring it together, and that he looked forward to their working relationship.
He also thanked Iaccino for leading the recruitment effort – noting that it was both smooth and quick – and said his leadership is paying dividends for the schools and the community.
Falconer said she has been with Lakeport Unified for 25 years, beginning as a teacher at Lakeport Elementary and also working as a reading specialist before going on to serve as Terrace Middle School’s principal for 15 years.
She was the district’s director of curriculum and instruction before she was hired two years ago as Clear Lake High School’s principal.
Falconer holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from California State University, Chico, and a master’s degree in reading education from the University of California, Berkeley. Her husband, Todd, is a Lake County native.
She told Lake County News that she decided early on to apply for the job.
“I’d like to bring back a positive culture both for students and the staff,” as well as for families, she said.
She said she’s committed to learning the role of superintendent, and she wants to see the district thrive and succeed.
“This is my district. I love it,” she said.
Falconer’s hiring comes just four months after the board’s dismissal of Superintendent April Leiferman.
In January, just a month after Buffalo, Carly Alvord and Jennifer Hansen took their seats on the board, they joined Board member Phil Kirby in voting to terminate Leiferman’s contract without cause, as Lake County News has reported.
A week later, Iaccino – the retired superintendent of Upper Lake Unified – was hired as Lakeport Unified’s interim superintendent.
Since then, he’s finished negotiations with employees groups, hired new Chief Business Officer Jacque Eischens and led the superintendent hiring process, basing it on the method used to choose his successor in Upper Lake, Dr. Giovanni Annous.
Iaccino will stay on with the district through June 30, with Falconer taking over on July 1.
He told Lake County News that he will work with the new superintendent on some leadership and personnel decisions, including the reassignment of Rachel Paarsch, the former Terrace Middle School principal who was removed from her job in the fall.
The district and Paarsch settled a lawsuit filed over her removal. Iaccino said the settlement calls for Paarsch to remain on administrative leave until the end of the year, and then she will be placed in a new administrative job at the discretion of the new superintendent.
In her new job, Falconer also will decide on reassigning Aaron Carter, the Lakeport Elementary principal. Iaccino said Carter received a notice that he was to be assigned to a different administrative position at the principal’s level.
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