Will Bellevue's New Superintendent Be As Bad As Riley Was?

I left this comment on Bellevue's new superintendent who hopefully wasn't select as a female hispanic to balance out the white guy they had last:

Bothell, WA 11 comments March 27, 2009 at 12:07 PMRating:(0) (0) Report abuseI didn't like that Riley Guy, a total outcomebased education hack. Wanted to require passing college level AP testsjust to get a high school diploma, tolerated abomination no-arithemtic"Investigations" math, thought everybody ought to graduate withcalculus. We need people whose job isn't to promote whatever new crazybig-eduation ideas are coming down the pike, and demand "excellencefor all" which is just a map to wrecking education for everybody. Willthis person have the guts to kill the new "classroom based assessment"that's worse than the WASL??

Welcome to Bellevue's new school superintendent, Amalia CudeiroThe challenge for Amalia Cudeiro, the Bellevue School District's new superintendent, is to keep a high-flying district aloft.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2008930843_edita27bellevue.htmlAmalia Cudeiro ONE senses the Bellevue School District has beenwaiting for a leader like Amalia Cudeiro.

In choosing Cudeiro, the School Board underscored the most importantingredients in a successful superintendent: formidable leadershipskills and a personal success story that closely aligns with theaspirations of families in a high-performing suburban district.

Cudeiro has the goods.
She teaches leadership at Harvard University's Urban SuperintendentsProgram and is a partner at a consulting firm that emphasized schoolleadership. Deeper knowledge of how schools work comes from Cudeiro'sdays as a former deputy superintendent of the Boston Public Schoolsand principal in two Southern California schools.

Cudeiro's life story is a powerful one that resembles the stories ofmany of Bellevue's students. She emigrated to the United States fromCuba as a child. Her father was an accountant but because he didn'tspeak English was relegated to work as a hotel dishwasher.
Her experience resonates in a district where more than 80 languagesare spoken. English is a second language for about 10 percent ofstudents.

Bellevue is the gold standard among districts, with its nationalreputation for excellent high schools and experienced teachers.Eighteen percent of Bellevue's teachers have gone through the rigoroustraining to become nationally board certified (THIS IS JUNK), compared with just 5.3percent of teachers statewide. Two success stories, Bellevue andCudeiro, equal a good match.

But all is not rosy in Bellevue. The district faces challenges. Awealthy tax base is offset by steep reductions in state funding.Nearly a third of students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch. (AND RILEY WANTED THEM ALL TO EAT CALCULUS??) Cudeiro's challenge will be continuing to maintain Bellevue'seducational quality, meeting the needs of all students and doing sowith fewer resources.

Cudeiro must repair fissures in the relationship between the districtand its teachers, differences exposed during a bitter two-weekteachers strike last fall. Her leadership skills and ability toconnect on a personal level will come in handy.

Cudeiro is an excellent pick.