Schools

Sandra Lyon Appointed School District Superintendent

The new Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District leader, who will begin work July 1, comes from the Palmdale School District.

The Board of Education on Monday night appointed Sandra Lyon as the next superintendent of the . Her selection was approved by a 7-0 vote.

Lyon is the chief leadership officer for the Palmdale School District, a position she has held for two years. She previously served as superintendent/principal for the one-school Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes School District in Lake Hughes, Calif. 

Lyon’s past positions, according to the SMMUSD, have included director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for the Lancaster Unified School District; and principal and assistant principal at the middle school and elementary school levels. She has taught language arts, coordinated an after-school program for at-risk youth and worked as a journalist in Northern California.

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Lyon has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Francisco State University. She received her master’s degree in curriculum and an administrative credential from Cal State Bakersfield.

“I do believe my 25 years in public education has prepared me well for this,” said Lyon after she was introduced by Board President José Escarce. “And I have a breadth of experience that I hope I will be able to go on. But the main thing that I believe in is collaboration and ... culture. I have heard nothing but great things about people in this district—in the community, on the staff, in the schools—and I know that we're going to work together to continue to provide the best education possible for all the students in the district.”

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Lyon said she was “very accustomed to diverse communities.” She and her husband Paul, who is a 17-year teacher, will begin looking for a home in the district. Lyon joked that she welcomed “apartment tips.”

Escarce said Lyon emerged as the front-runner from “a group of really superb and highly qualified candidates for this position.”

“Many qualities impressed us about Ms. Lyon,” Escarce said. “For me, the ones that stood out were really her obvious intelligence, the experience that she's had in education—which is nearly 25 years, her personality and her personal warmth, her focus on all students and really her collaborative approach, which has been borne out in her work in previous districts and which we believe will make her ideal for our schools and communities.”

Board members Oscar de la Torre and Laurie Lieberman traveled to Palmdale to speak with district stakeholders. They said they heard only praise about Lyon, and Lieberman said some people almost cried when they found out she may be leaving.

“She has great communication skills,” Lieberman said. “She’s a team leader.”

De la Torre said, “Sandra’s definitely an instructional leader, someone who understands the most important thing in public education is what happens between the teachers and the students.”

Lyon will begin the job July 1, replacing Tim Cuneo. He announced last fall that he would retire at the end of this school year.


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