- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Gill named new Middletown Unified School District superintendent
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A veteran Lake County educator has been selected as the new superintendent of the Middletown Unified School District.
Tim Gill, who currently serves as assistant superintendent for the Kelseyville Unified School District, will now head south to lead Middletown Unified, a district where he has professional ties.
In a Wednesday statement, the district board said Gill will start the job on Oct. 27.
“Join us in welcoming Mr. Gill back to our schools. We look forward to working with him,” MUSD School Board President Misha Grothe said in the district’s written statement.
Gill said he has experience working both within the district as a teacher and with its leadership in a former role with the Lake County Office of Education.
“My first job in education was with MUSD,” he said.
He was a middle and high school math teacher in the district for 11 years, from 1990 to 2001.
He and his wife and sons lived in the district for many years. His sons went to school in the district and graduated from Middletown High School.
“It’s kind of like going full circle,” Gill said.
He said many former students and coworkers are employed in Middletown Unified today, and it will be good to reconnect with everyone.
Gill’s professional experience includes serving as a mathematics specialist at the Sonoma County Department of Education from 2001 to 2004 before moving to the Lake County Office of Education, where he served as senior director of education services from 2004 to 2015, an assignment that included overseeing the director of Taylor Observatory.
He’s been with Kelseyville Unified since 2015, serving as director of student support services before becoming assistant superintendent.
Gill has other things in common with the community members he’ll now serve. Like thousands of other south county residents, he and his family lost their home in the 2015 Valley fire. They now live within the Kelseyville Unified School District boundaries.
Gill’s appointment follows by nearly a month the Middletown Unified School Board’s decision to terminate the contract of Superintendent Michael Cox.
Cox, who had been with the district for 15 months, was released from his contract following a closed session discussion of his performance the board held on Sept. 27.
Since then, Dr. David Miller has served as the district’s interim superintendent, a role he also held for several months following the board’s termination of Superintendent Catherine Stone in October 2019.
Grothe said the school board held a special meeting on Oct. 15 and discussed a possible candidate for an interim superintendent placement.
Miller told Lake County News that the district’s board of trustees met again on Wednesday in closed session and made the decision to appoint Gill as superintendent effective Oct. 27.
“I as Interim Superintendent will be done this Friday and will return to my retirement,” Miller said in an email.
District facing challenges over COVID-19, staffing
Gill’s arrival comes as the district is facing a number of challenges regarding staffing and pushback from parents regarding COVID-19-related mandates coming down from the state leadership.
One of the main challenges now is transportation.
On Oct. 8, Miller sent out a letter to parents explaining that the district’s three bus drivers retired as of Oct. 15, resulting in the district suspending all transportation other than for special education beginning on Oct. 18.
He asked during the board’s regular Oct. 13 meeting that everyone work together on short-term solutions, like carpooling, while the district works on alternatives as it tries to resolve the situation.
Parents and community members at that meeting pressed the board and Miller on whether the bus drivers quit due to vaccination mandates for school staff. “I don’t know the reasoning to be honest with you,” Miller said.
Asked if there was a chance that was the reason, Miller responded, “Could be, yeah. There may be a lot of reasons,” adding he can’t control someone who wants to retire.
In response to questions submitted by Lake County News following that meeting, Grothe said the board accepted the retirements of the three bus drivers at its Oct. 7 meeting.
“The district is not at liberty to discuss personnel matters, including retirements. We are very grateful for the service of these 3 individuals to our district over the years, and wish them the best in their retirements,” Grothe wrote.
She said those bus driver positions were posted and the district has several candidates at this time. “We have communicated our transportation situation with the community and are grateful for their understanding and camaraderie as they come together to help one another while the district navigates this. We realise we are not alone in this predicament as many other districts nationwide are facing shortages of bus drivers, and remain dedicated to finding a solution so we can support our families.”
Grothe told Lake County News that they were not aware of any other recent staff resignations that were potentially linked to vaccinations or other COVID mandates.
She emphasized that the mandatory vaccinations or weekly testing for all staff was not a district-issued mandate. “That mandate was issued by the California Department of Public Health, at the direction of Governor Newsom,” she wrote.
During the board’s Oct. 13 meeting, a large crowd — many of them refusing to wear masks — had come to speak against COVID-19 mandates during public comment.
The meeting’s disruption led to Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responding briefly to the scene, which was confirmed by Lt. Corey Paulich.
The board called a brief recess and afterward, district officials moved the meeting outside, where Miller said masks wouldn’t need to be worn.
After the meeting moved outside, Cobb Elementary Principal Aram Osterlye tried to explain to the crowd that the mandates were from the state, which could enforce them by controlling the district’s funding. In response, crowd members tried to shout him down.
Grothe said the district has not had any other confrontations with parents similar to what occurred on Oct. 13.
The school district also is working to fill a board vacancy that resulted from Board member LaTrease Walker’s sudden resignation during the Oct. 13 meeting. She said at that time that she didn’t support the mandates and that her children will not be vaccinated. She was elected in November 2018.
Grothe said the district is working with the Lake County Office of Education to follow the “procedures and protocols as outlined by law” to fill Walker’s seat.
Faced with the district’s challenges, when asked about his priorities for the job, Gill said he wanted to spend some time in the position first before discussing them.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the correct timeline of Gill’s professional experience.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.