Thank goodness and good Bye Barry Groves...you stayed several years too long and did not expect excellence. We need high standards to be followed by both schools and the employees of the schools. Barry Groves has allowed all to become complacent and did not push to excel in areas of grades, sports and other outlets. We need a wake up call to all, that as tax paying citizens living in the energetic, always evolving silicon valley that our schools need to also follow suit. The many that fought for board seats is an indication of problems in the district. We are ready for change and for a new CAN DO attitude instead of a NO or that's not my job!!!

Let's see his new contract.

This is a unconventional hire. Healdsburg is nothing like Mountain View-Los Altos, and Jeff Harding is a climber who has reached the top. I am impressed with his win, but I suspect I will be underwhelmed 12 months from now. Seems they hired a manager, not a leader. Maybe that's what is needed now.

Previous hires were not from communities like Los Altos/Mountain View either -- Barry Groves came from Cambrian Park (which has some similarties) but only having led a small elementary school district. Richard Fischer was from Lake Tahoe. The guy knows how to run a school district and he does in darn well. Furthermore, he was the founding principal at Windsor High School and turned it into a powerhouse during his 9 years there. Being a founding principal at a high school requires true leadership and more than just mere management.

Just because somebody doesn't come from a community you see as similar to yours does not mean that they're not a leader. I mean really, upward mobility is what people go for with jobs. So, one would expect someone to be taking a promotion by coming to MVLA. Right??

And Donald Phillips before that came from the San Diego area. Vista, I think. Not exactly a Mountain View/Los ALtos clone.