Outgoing Rancho Santa Fe School board trustees honored for service, accomplishments

By Karen Billing

Staff Writer

Thursday, Nov. 4, marked the last Rancho Santa Fe School District meeting for trustees Scot Cheatham and Carlie Headapohl, the end of their four-year terms. New board members Marti Ritto and Todd Frank will take their seats at the next meeting.

Superintendent Lindy Delaney said the last four years have gone very well with Headapohl and Cheatham at the board table.

“It’s really hard to put into words what you’ve done for this district,” said Superintendent Lindy Delaney. “You signed up when it wasn’t easy, after a failed school bond, when the community was really fragmented and you worked hard for a solution.”

Delaney said that when the district went after the Calzada del Bosque property as a potential site for the new district school, it was Headapohl who lobbied that they have a “Plan B” to build on their existing site. The Calzada property ended up not panning out and Delaney said, “Plan B became Plan A and we’re standing in it right now.”

Headapohl said she has grown so much during her term and is very proud of what they were able to accomplish. She said she feels like she is leaving the district on a high note, without a lot of “crazy stuff going on” for incoming board members Frank and Ritto.

“Marty and Todd, it’s all worth it,” Headapohl said.

Delaney said Cheatham, who has served as the board president this year, was a great leader.

“Scot’s role in so many ways was to bring us together as a community,” Delaney said. “You helped protect the district and you served us well.”

Cheatham thanked Delaney and the administrative staff and said that it was a very rewarding experience to serve the district, helping bring about change.

“One thing we learned was how to listen, to opposite opinions and to each other,” Cheatham said.

Delaney gave the former trustees small crystal monuments, engraved with the words “You never stand so tall as when you bend down to help a child.”