New RJUHSD superintendent hire Denise Herrmann is beginning the school year with a sense of purpose. She plans to spend her first few months concentrating on introducing herself and gaining a deeper understanding of the district through both staff and students.

“This first year, my goal is to learn about the structures that we have in place, to learn about the staff, to learn about the student needs, to get really deep into the data, “ Herrmann said. “Because as a person who’s new to the district, I have to be very respectful of the work that was put into place before I arrived.”

Hermann say she operates under the belief that familiarizing herself with the district rather than hurrying to change it will benefit her in the years to come.

“Sometimes superintendents can rush right in and try and change things in the first thirty days and that simply can foster ill will, because you can’t try to improve something that you can’t really understand well,” Herrmann said.

Herrmann’s philosophy comes from years of experience as a teacher and an administrator. Her roots as a Chemistry teacher and, later, advancement into central office positions lead her to seek out job openings where she could continue doing impactful work.

The district’s values were the most important factor behind Herrmann’s decision to apply for the superintendent position. She felt it was necessary that they lined up with her own brand of experience and personal goals.  

“I felt that things that were important to me about teaching and learning – equity, high expectations for all students, really strong inclusion programs – those were all in place here and that I could simply be a person that could take the district to the next level,” Herrmann said.

Brad Basham, Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, approves of Herrmann’s values and the consideration and inclusion she shows for students under her care.

“The thing I like most about her is that she is very student-centered, so when she is asked a question or has to make a decision, she looks at it through the lens of what is best for the kids,” Basham said.

In order to more effectively facilitate these efforts, Herrmann created several events geared toward staff, parents and students. She first debuted ‘Coffee with the Superintendent,’ which are meetings with the goal of providing parents answers to any questions they may have and introducing goals the district plans to focus on this year.

Additionally, Herrmann will be implementing a Student Advisory Committee, aimed at diversifying viewpoints on district-wide decisions through student feedback. Herrmann’s previous experience as a principal taught her the benefits of student involvement and lead her to bring the idea to the RJUHSD.

“I see this as a communicating group and a problem solving group,” Herrmann said. “It not only helps me learn various student perspectives, it sometime helps the students learn about how, sometimes, you have different attitudes about the challenges and ideas that we face.”

According to Basham, Herrmann welcomes and encourages open communication between staff members as much as she does between students.   

“Her doors are always open and I can go in and share what’s going on. I can ask questions, get feedback and she’s really tried to reach out to each school,”  

Outside of student and staff-oriented developments, Herrmann plans to wait before implementing any large changes and creating goals regarding the future of the district.

In the process, she will continue building up any projects put into effect under her predecessor, Ron Severson. This includes the wellness center initiative, which Herrmann has outside experience with due to her work establishing and enhancing wellness centers at both Palo Alto Unified School District and Fremont Unified School District.

“I feel really good about helping the staff members who did a lot of the design work already and just making sure we maximize the impact of year one,” Herrmann said.

Though she is currently focusing on grasping the inner workings of the district, Herrmann doesn’t believe her superintendent position will preclude her participation from teaching others, especially considering how she is looking to involve more students in the district decision-making process.

“I’ve always looked at myself as an administrator while still being a teacher,” Herrmann said. “Sometimes, just, adults are my students or the board now are my students and I help them learn about school, but I’m still a teacher at heart.”