After seven years of leadership, Dr. Michelle Rodriguez — the first biliterate superintendent of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District — is leaving for Stockton Unified School District with 36,000+ students.
Her final day at PVUSD is Friday, June 30.
“To the remarkable Pajaro Valley community that has embraced me over the past seven years, I have a heart filled with gratitude for each and every one of you who have been part of our efforts to improve the lives of our students, our staff, our families and our community,” she said. “Together, we have built a District committed to excellence, resilience, and growth…Though our paths diverge, I carry with me the spirit of the Pajaro Valley, grateful for your support of me personally and for our collective commitment to the Whole Child, Whole Family, Whole Community.”
Those six words — Whole Child, Whole Family, Whole Community — sum up her philosophy of education.
Her goal: To prepare all students for success in life including college and career.
She had a commitment to address systemic inequities and a persistent equity lens, positively impacting 19,000 Pajaro Valley students.
“In the nearly seven years of Dr. Rodriguez’s student-centered leadership, the PVUSD community saw tremendous growth in critical programs such as arts and music and the development of innovative ventures such as the Culinary Garden and Teaching Kitchen,” said Dr. Jennifer Holm, PVUSD board president. “She leaves the district stronger than she found it, and we wish her all the best in her next chapter.”
Dr. Rodriguez deftly led during a time marked by significant historical events – Covid-19 pandemic, wildfires, a 100-year rain that led to the relocation of Valencia Elementary in Aptos, and a once in a lifetime atmospheric river that resulted in the Pajaro River levee breach, displacing thousands of students and families.
At each and every turn, Dr. Rodriguez led with heart and mind, compassion and empathy, a listening ear, a collaborative stance, strategic thinking and a consistent focus on always making decisions in the best interest of students and their deserving futures.
She understood the importance and value of data and complex conversations to shift mindsets, beliefs, practices and systems.
Communication was a forte: Her weekly Ask Dr. Rodriguez FAQs, which appeared in Aptos Times, weekly Conversations with the Superintendent, monthly DELAC parent meetings, Paletas y Pláticas en el Parque — Treats and Talk — at local parks, and ongoing surveys of students, staff and parents through frequent Thought Exchange feedback cycles, issue-specific inquiries, and the annual YouthTruth survey.
Dr. Rodriguez visited school sites daily, held regular conversations with school staff – all to ensure that the PVUSD educational community celebrated students’ strengths, assets and resilience. She encouraged students to continue embracing knowledge, pursuing passions, interests and talents at every step of their educational journey.
She launched a number of innovative equity initiatives to support student success, family engagement, staff capacity, community cohesion and organizational transformation.
Examples include: Brokering a 10-year commitment from Save The Music Foundation to bring 45 minutes of weekly music instruction to all elementary school students, bringing the Latino Youth Film Project into elementary and secondary classrooms, activating a Career Technical Education program that is a model along the Central Coast with 26 pathways, expanding comprehensive middle and high school College and Career Center services through a partnership with UC Santa Cruz’s Education Partnership Center, and establishing the district’s first multilingual, multicultural, and multi-agency Family Engagement and Wellness Center open after school hours and on weekends to ensure vulnerable students’ and families’ needs are being met.
At Starlight Elementary, under the leadership of Dr. Rodriguez and site leadership, school families, community members, donors, foundations and community partner organizations in agricultural, culinary and health sectors invested and built one of only five specialized garden and culinary education installations in the entire United States catalyzed by a grant from the Emeril Lagasse Foundation. Emeril’s Culinary Garden and Teaching Kitchen at Starlight serves as the central hub for a large-scale roll-out of school gardens at all 16 elementary schools in PVUSD over the next two years in collaboration with Life Lab.
In 2018, Dr. Rodriguez implemented an award-winning bilingual reading App through Footsteps2Brilliance, called Paso a Paso locally, which is available to all residents within the district boundaries, resulting in 227 million words read over the past 5 years.
In addition, PVUSD focused on literacy equity through an intentional SIPPS implementation which has expanded to 24 sites supported by 478 staff members serving 7,720 students.
Dr. Rodriguez developed relationships with community, government and nonprofit leaders to build a community partner ecosystem of 96 organizations and agencies that uplift PVUSD students, staff and district priorities.
She ensured that the interests and future of the PVUSD educational community was at the table in critical and influential, local, county, regional, state and national arenas to advocate for equity of outcomes in education for the most vulnerable students.
She received local, state and national recognition.
In 2022, she was awarded both a Legislature Resolution 1445 from Assemblyman Robert Rivas, Senator John Laird and Assemblyman Mark Stone, and she was named the 2022 Superintendent of the Year from the Association of California School Administrators for Region 10.
Also in 2022, she was given the Community Hero Award at the national Community Indicators Consortium 2022 Impact Summit. The CIC supports communities’ efforts to use community data to monitor community conditions that create inequity and to facilitate sustainable improvements in quality of life.
In 2020, Dr. Rodriguez received the 2020 Phil Rather Award from the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust, which recognizes those who have made outstanding contributions to quality of life in the Pajaro Valley.
In 2019, she received the Community Hero of the Year from United Way of Santa Cruz County.
Her PVUSD family wishes her well as she begins her 31st year as an educator in Stockton Unified School District.