High school district superintendent postpones contract renewal

By Karen Billing

While it was on the Aug. 16 agenda to extend San Dieguito Union High School District Superintendent Ken Noah’s contract for another three years, Noah asked that the board not renew his contract and not revisit the topic until after the November elections.

Noah said that in the public school system there is a unique relationship between the board and the superintendent and as they are in an election year, he’d rather wait.

“The board hires the superintendent and I think that’s the greatest responsibility that you have to the community,” Noah said, noting that it’s especially important that the superintendent and board work well together to achieve district goals. “I’m much less interested in terms of my contract than I am about the quality of the relationship between the board and myself.”

He said after Nov. 6, the seated board will decide about the quality of that relationship and elect whether to keep him on and for how long.

“The last thing I would want is to have a contract that bound me to a board that didn’t want me as superintendent,” Noah said.

Trustee Joyce Dalessandro said that however his statements may sound to the public, the board is happy with him as the superintendent. He recently went through his evaluations and received an outstanding review, she said.

“His work for this district has been tremendous and invaluable,” Dalessandro said. “We’re hoping he’ll be with us for many years to come.

In the Nov. 6 elections, two seats on the SDUHSD are up for grabs as Dalessandro’s and Hergesheimer’s terms are up. Both are up for re-election against candidates Graham Ledger and Steven McDowell.