LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Friday, the Calistoga Joint Unified School District confirmed that it has hired the Lakeport Unified School District superintendent as its new leader.
The announcement came the day after the Lakeport Unified School Board voted to begin a recruitment process because of Superintendent Erin Smith-Hagberg getting the job offer in Napa County, as Lake County News has reported.
Smith-Hagberg has served as Lakeport Unified’s superintendent for 12 and a half years, and has spent her 30 years in the district in roles including middle and high school English teacher, middle school principal and Lakeport Elementary School principal.
Smith-Hagberg will succeed Dr. Esmeralda Mondragon, Ed.D., who announced last year she was retiring from Calistoga Joint Unified.
In the Friday announcement, Calistoga Joint Unified Board President Jeff Maxfield said the recruitment process that led to Smith-Hagberg’s hiring included a nationwide search that resulted in more than 40 applications and the final interviews of six top candidates.
He said Smith-Hagberg has been offered the position “pending a few final steps in the process.”
One of those steps is a site visit by a delegation of Calistoga Joint Unified Board members and district office personnel to Lakeport Unified on Monday, according to statements made at the special Lakeport Unified Board meeting on Thursday night and the Friday announcement.
In selecting Smith-Hagberg for the new job, Maxfield cited accomplishments including her leadership on the $17 million Measure T bond, passed by voters in November 2014; her leadership in curriculum and instruction initiatives; and community involvement in groups such as Rotary, with Smith-Hagberg having been selected to be Lakeport Rotary Club’s president next year.
Maxfield said reference checking also has confirmed his district’s feelings about Smith-Hagberg. In talking to people from Lakeport Unified, he said feedback has lauded her for being collaborative, open and transparent, a strong leader and a professional.
“We are grateful to all who participating in providing input regarding what is most desired to see in our next superintendent. We are confident you will find that Ms. Smith-Hagberg is a perfect match,” Maxfield said.
He said she will be in the Calistoga Joint Unified district for several days before the end of the year to begin to meet everyone and to hear about the district, which has about 850 students, just over half of Lakeport Unified’s student count.
Smith-Hagberg and her husband, Dave, are reported to be in the process of seeking a place to live in Calistoga.
She is due to leave when her contract ends at the end of the school year, June 30, according to Lakeport Unified School Board President Dennis Darling.
The Lakeport Unified School Board voted unanimously on Thursday night to hire Scott Mahoney of Mahoney Consulting to lead an abbreviated and confidential hiring process in the hopes of having a candidate selected by mid-May and in place by Smith-Hagberg’s departure.
Mahoney, incidentally, is the consultant who has led the Calistoga Joint Unified hiring process that led to Smith-Hagberg’s hiring there.
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Calistoga Joint Unified School District confirms hiring Lakeport Unified superintendent
- Elizabeth Larson
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