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Posted: 28-Apr-26
Location: McClellan Park, California
Type: Full Time
Salary: $335,000 - $370,000
Required Education:
Position Description for Twin Rivers Unified School District, McClellan Park, California
The Twin Rivers Unified School District Board of Trustees is seeking an effective leader and fully qualified Superintendent. The Board wishes to have the successful candidate assume the responsibilities of the position on July 1, 2026.
McPherson & Jacobson, L.L.C., Executive Recruitment and Development, in collaboration with the California School Boards Association, has been engaged as the consultant in a search for outstanding candidates. They will assist the Board of Trustees in identifying and screening the candidates.
Apply online at: www.macnjake.com
Enrollment: 25,140 students
Location: McClellan, California
Salary Range: $335,000 - $370,000
The Qualifications:
The candidate must have the background, skills, and abilities essential for excellence in educational leadership. The Board recognizes that selecting a superintendent is one of the most important decisions it will make. The Board desires candidates who have a proven ability and demonstrated accomplishments for the following position criteria:
Visionary Educational Leader
The ideal superintendent is a bold, student-centered educational leader who places academic excellence and equity at the heart of the district's mission. This leader brings deep expertise in curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and is well-versed in research-based reading and writing practices. They understand the science of reading and can lead the implementation of culturally responsive, inclusive, and high-expectation instructional models. Grounded in data-driven decision-making, the superintendent is committed to closing the persistent achievement and opportunity gaps that affect Twin Rivers students — particularly in math and English/language arts, where district proficiency rates trail statewide averages. This leader aligns district-wide goals with school-level strategies and classroom practices, ensuring coherence and shared accountability across all 45 schools. The new leader also engages in the skillful, high-leverage, and balanced application of learning technology in classrooms. They advocate strongly for continued growth and development of signature district programs: college and career readiness — including CTE pathways, dual enrollment with American River College, and advanced placement programs — and invest in targeted interventions for struggling students. As the district's lead learner, this superintendent develops aligned professional learning that supports teacher growth, while modeling inclusivity, professionalism, and a belief that every Twin Rivers student can thrive in a culture of high achievement and innovation.
Equity Leader
The ideal superintendent is an equity-centered leader who has the moral courage and systems thinking necessary to make bold, data-informed decisions through a clear equity lens, in alignment with the district’s Strategic Equity Plan. Culturally competent and experienced in serving diverse communities, this leader actively addresses opportunity and achievement gaps — especially for Twin Rivers' English Language Learners, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, foster youth, students of color, and students with disabilities. With a strong track record of dismantling systemic barriers related to language, ability, income, and geography, this superintendent ensures that resources, programs, and supports are equitably distributed across all schools and communities. This includes ensuring access to high-quality programming in arts, STEM, special education, and dual-language instruction. The leader recognizes and maximizes the impact on services to special needs students through the district’s own SELPA. The leader values and embraces the district's remarkable multicultural community, including many recent arrivals and refugees from global regions under strain, and demonstrates the ability to engage effectively with families from every background. Deeply committed to educational justice and ensuring that all students, regardless of status, are safe and welcome in the district’s schools, this leader leads with compassion, integrity, and urgency — and brings others along on the journey toward equity rather than working in isolation. The board expects that trends that have certain subgroups of students academically outpacing similar students in nearby districts will continue and expand, eliminating the achievement gap.
Effective Fiscal and Operational Leader
The ideal superintendent is a fiscally responsible leader with the expertise to develop and implement long-range financial and educational plans that directly support student achievement. They possess successful experience managing multi-hundred-million-dollar budgets, navigating California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and Title funding structures, and overseeing bond programs and capital investment portfolios. Given Twin Rivers' historic enrollment decline — from approximately 37,000 students at merger to roughly 24,140 today — the superintendent must have a credible, creative strategy for enrollment stabilization and continued fiscal sustainability, and will capitalize on new housing in portions of the district experiencing growth. This leader demonstrates a deep understanding of fiscal fundamentals, including maintaining healthy reserves, addressing deficit spending risks, and making transparent, data-driven allocation decisions. They must be skilled and transparent in navigating the district's classroom spending threshold question and the fiscal vulnerabilities from the Highlands Community Charter situation. As a skilled problem solver in collective bargaining, facilities management, and day-to-day operations, this superintendent brings high integrity and a steady focus on long-term organizational health while maintaining the flexibility to respond to pressing immediate challenges.
Ethical Communicator and Collaborator
The ideal superintendent is an inclusive, ethical, and courageous communicator who actively listens, values diverse perspectives, and builds strong, trusting relationships throughout the district and its communities. With exceptional verbal, written, and digital communication skills, this leader engages transparently with the Board, staff, students, families, bargaining units, and the broader community. Given the board's recent tensions — including public fractures during the teacher strike — the superintendent must be a skilled board relationship builder who fosters trust, supports the board's governance role, and establishes a productive, collaborative working relationship with all seven trustees. Culturally competent and emotionally intelligent, this leader fosters collaboration, navigates differences with respect, and leads difficult conversations — especially around educational equity, fiscal constraint, and labor relations — with clarity and purpose. They model civic engagement, create space for families and community members to be meaningfully involved in schools, and hold themselves and others to the highest standards of integrity and accountability.
Student-Centered Leader
The ideal superintendent is, above all, an educator who keeps students at the center of every decision. This leader reimagines student success broadly — nurturing physical health, social-emotional well-being, academic achievement, and creative development — and ensures that programming reflects the whole-child philosophy that has long been a strength of Twin Rivers schools. This next leader embraces and protects vulnerable populations like students with special needs, immigrant and refugee students, and the historically underserved, maintaining a sense of welcoming and safety for all. This superintendent empowers students, families, and staff to be active participants in a transparent decision-making process. They are committed to programs that give students agency over their learning, including project-based learning, student advisory groups, and expanded extracurricular opportunities. Recognizing that Twin Rivers students demonstrate achievement in diverse ways, this leader ensures that both traditional metrics and qualitative indicators — student surveys, listening sessions, and community feedback — inform district strategy. This leader is relentless in their belief that every Twin Rivers student, regardless of zip code, immigration status, language background, or economic circumstance, is capable of extraordinary achievement.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS
- Master’s degree required; Doctoral degree preferred in Education, Educational Leadership, or a related field
- Valid California Administrative Credential, or the ability to obtain one preferred
- Multilingual — bilingual in Spanish is strongly preferred, given the district's student demographics
- Successful experience and continuity as a teacher and leader at the classroom, site, district, and executive cabinet levels (superintendent, assistant/associate/deputy superintendent) preferred
- Unified school district (Pre-K to 12, Adult Education) experience preferred
- Demonstrated experience leading in high-need, high-diversity school communities preferred
- Experience with collective bargaining, labor-management relations, and trust-building with employee organizations preferred
- Demonstrated track record of improving student academic outcomes, particularly for underserved populations preferred
- Experience with a district SELPA and its operations on behalf of special needs students preferred
- Experience managing large budgets, bond programs, and multi-year capital plans preferred
- Familiarity with California's LCFF/LCAP framework, charter school authorizing, and state education law preferred
- Valid California Driver’s License, or the ability to obtain one required
Search Timeline:
- Closing date for applications: June 1, 2026
- Board of Trustees selects finalists to interview: June 8, 2026
- Interviews with the Board of Trustees: June 15 – 16, 2026
- Selection of new Superintendent: June 23, 2026
- Start date: July 1, 2026
Contact information:
- McPherson & Jacobson, L.L.C.
- 11725 Arbor Street, Suite 220
- Omaha, NE 68144
- 888-375-4814
- Email: apps@macnjake.com
School Website: https://www.trusd.net/
Consultants:
William Spalding
Ruben Aurelio
Twin Rivers Unified School District is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The district does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, or disability and, when needed, will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees. Anyone requesting reasonable accommodation in the application or recruitment process please contact McPherson & Jacobson at the address/phone/email above.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS
- Master’s degree required; Doctoral degree preferred in Education, Educational Leadership, or a related field
- Valid California Administrative Credential, or the ability to obtain one preferred
- Multilingual — bilingual in Spanish is strongly preferred, given the district's student demographics
- Successful experience and continuity as a teacher and leader at the classroom, site, district, and executive cabinet levels (superintendent, assistant/associate/deputy superintendent) preferred
- Unified school district (Pre-K to 12, Adult Education) experience preferred
- Demonstrated experience leading in high-need, high-diversity school communities preferred
- Experience with collective bargaining, labor-management relations, and trust-building with employee organizations preferred
- Demonstrated track record of improving student academic outcomes, particularly for underserved populations preferred
- Experience with a district SELPA and its operations on behalf of special needs students preferred
- Experience managing large budgets, bond programs, and multi-year capital plans preferred
- Familiarity with California's LCFF/LCAP framework, charter school authorizing, and state education law preferred
- Valid California Driver’s License, or the ability to obtain one required