Baarstad, set to take helm of CVUSD next summer, discusses the future

READY TO LEAD––Dep. Superintendent Jeff Baarstad of Conejo Valley Unified School District will become superintendent of schools effective next July when he replaces Mario Contini, who’s retiring. When Jeff Baarstad, deputy superintendent of business services at Conejo Valley Unified School District, talks about his plans for the school district over the next five years, his main goal is simple: Nurturing excellence with focused innovation.

That’s the saying he’s created as a focal point as he prepares to become the district’s superintendent in July.

“The idea is that we are already excellent,” Baarstad said. “In (these) fiscal times, we have to nurture that excellence with attention and support, especially the support of our employees.”

Superintendent Mario Contini announced his retirement in October. He’ll retire in June after four years in the position.

Baarstad said that if he’d been asked to fill the superintendent position three years ago, his answer would have been different.

“I didn’t feel as if I knew enough about the district and the community, but now I do,” he said.

“I believe in this district and the teachers and the staff. I’ve made a lot of great friendships, and this is a group I’d be honored to lead during some really difficult times.”

Baarstad said state projections show an unbalanced budget of nearly $7 billion next year and as much as $15 billion the following year.

“If people didn’t know it then, they know it now—education is directly tied to our economy,” he said. “I’m looking forward to more jobs and other things improving because that will translate into more support for education. In the meantime, we have to figure out how to run as lean and efficiently as we possibly can.”

The main goal is focusing on students in the classroom.

“We’re taking every step we can to protect classroom instruction,” Baarstad said. “That means having a qualified, dedicated teacher with a reasonable class size with the materials they need.”

Baarstad said it can be difficult for teachers and staff.

“It can be discouraging,” he said. “They’ve gotten a series of bad news for three years now, and it can really start to weigh on you. We need to focus on instruction, and keeping people enthusiastic about what they do. We will get through this rough spot.”

One of the biggest challenges ahead is keeping the community informed, according to Baarstad.

“We need to keep everyone relatively united about having positive educational programs for kids in the community,” Baarstad said. “It’s hard in an environment of limited resources and reductions not to have people break up into groups protecting this and advocating for that. We have to try to get a consensus of what we’re trying to do for the best of the district.”

Baarstad said he’s excited about spending time on school sites with kids and teachers and attending performing arts and sporting events. He’s also looking forward to working with the board to understand what the community wants from the district’s schools.

“I think we’re perceived as being a very good school district, but we only really hear about things during the small percentage of the time when things go wrong,” he said. “I want to know what things kids want to see more often on campus and what things will make parents feel good about their kids getting their education at Conejo Unified.

“I want to be part of that dialogue, and I want to work with staff to make sure those things are in place. There are things we can do without more money.”

Part of Baarstad’s new mantra is targeting what’s important to the majority of the community.

“We can’t be everything to everyone,” he said. “We can’t have 10 different, new, wonderful programs going on at the same time—we need to put our energy into the places we need to improve.”

One idea Baarstad likes is furthering preschool expansion.

“If we develop programs very competitive financially for young parents, it’ll really give us the opportunity to grab emerging parents and say, ‘Conejo Valley Unified is a great place to put your child for the next 14 years.’ It’s been a long time since I’ve had small kids, but I know how important it is to find reliable child care that doesn’t bankrupt a family.”

Baarstad is also impressed with specialized programs at all school levels, including the magnet academies at the middle schools and the Pathways program at high schools.

“It’s best where they really make sense, where the principals and staff have passion for a particular theme,” he said.

But Baarstad said these types of individualized programs shouldn’t be the top priority.

“We should be putting our greatest amount of energy into making every school, every classroom, the best they can be,” Baarstad said.

Baarstad has served in public education for 32 years, the past seven in his current position.

Before coming to Conejo Valley Unified School District, Baarstad spent 25 years in the Hueneme Elementary School District, where he worked as an elementary and middle school teacher, elementary and middle school assistant principal and principal, and as associate superintendent of business and personnel services for 10 years.

Baarstad has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s in developmental psychology and a doctorate in educational organization and policy studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

He’s been married for 32 years to his wife, Jenny, clinical manager of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Ventura County Medical Center. They have two adult children.