Las Virgenes schools end superintendent’s contract

Donald Zimring to retire



Donald Zimring

Donald Zimring

The Las Virgenes Unified School District Board of Education Tuesday announced that Superintendent Donald Zimring, an employee with the district for 36 years, will retire in August.

Jill Gaines, board president, said the decision not to renew Zimring’s contract came mutually.

“Don has always planned to retire, but the only question was timing,” Gaines said. “The discussion was when.”

Assistant Superintendent Dan Stepenosky, who was promoted to deputy superintendent in the shakeup, is considered a likely candidate for the district’s top job, even though the board says it will conduct a nationwide search to fill the post next year.

“(Stepenosky) certainly would be a candidate,” Gaines said. “He’s well regarded and will step up in the transition process.”

Zimring, 60, masked any disappointment he may have felt.

“My contract was up,” he said. “The board chose not to renew it, which was their right.”

Zimring said talks with the board about bringing in a new leadership team started in July 2010. The board said that when his contract expired, they would bring in new leadership.

Zimring accepted his first teaching job at Lindero Canyon Middle School in 1975. He quickly moved up the ranks, working as an assistant principal, principal, public information officer, deputy superintendent and other roles.

When Zimring was appointed to superintendent in 2007, the U.S. economy was declining and the funding for California education dropped precipitously. Due to the state’s budgetary problems, LVUSD found itself having to operate with $10 million less per year. By all accounts, Zimring handled the yearly budget constraints imposed by the state with creativity and laser sharp resolve.

Under his watch, the district cut expenses, but expanded programs, including the opening of an alternative school, the International Baccalaureate program at Agoura High School, and an elementary school foreign language program at Sumac Elementary. Under Zimring’s watch a theater arts academy was launched at Calabasas High School. He initiated a plan to offer more elective choices in middle schools, andhe also promoted the integration of technology into the classroom.

All told, Zimring oversaw some $200 million in construction projects during his tenure at the top.

As superintendent, Zimring cobbled together a yearly budget that saved teacher jobs, kept kindergarten through third-grade class sizes small, and maintained a vibrant approach that helped Las Virgenes retain its rank as a top district in California, as evidenced by LVUSD’s stellar standardized test scores.

Zimring told school district staff and parents that his educational philosophy was framed by a beloved book—“From Good to Great,” by Jim Collins.

“ One of the fundamental tenets of the book is that truly great organizations are ones in which leadership and success is systemic rather than vested in single person,” Zimring said. “In this model, everyone focuses on the organization and its purpose instead of individual gains. This district has been my life’s work. It is a work that has brought me not only personal and professional satisifcation, but a great deal of pride as well. Saying that, I have never been more proud than I am today of what we collectively have accomplished for the children of our community.”

Zimring also said an important aspect of leadership is the “ability to recognize when and how to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders so they may continue to move the organization forward.”

But resident Chuck Wampler of Agoura Hills asked of the school board, “If you have the opportunity to hang on to someone of this caliber, why would you let him go?”

Zimring, a resident of Westlake Village, does not plan to retire from his work in education.

“I believe I have other chapters to write in my life,” Zimring told The Acorn. “My work has been a great source of pride. I’m really very, very pleased at where the district is right now.”


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