by Kevin Cody
When Susan Wildes moved to Hermosa Beach with her husband Brad and young, twin daughters, Presley and Hattie, her prospects for a teaching job weren’t good.
She had nearly two decades of classroom experience in Georgia and Northern California. But California was experiencing one of its cyclical financial crises and most districts were laying off teachers.
A friend introduced Wildes to Redondo Beach Superintendent Steven Keller. He was so impressed by her energy he would nickname her “Turbo.”
Unlike most other districts in 2010, Redondo was hiring teachers. But there was a problem. Under education’s Byzantine hiring system, Wildes years of experience required she be paid more than the Redondo could pay new teachers.
Keller had a solution. He suggested she apply for the open principal’s position at Alta Vista Elementary.
Wildes was initially reluctant. She loved being in the classroom.
“I would have been content to be a classroom teacher for the rest of my life,” she said in an interview this week. She accepted the job with the understanding she could continue to teach. But her students would be teachers. She had coached teachers in Georgia, and found it as fulfilling as teaching kids.
Last month, Keller was again instrumental in finding Wildes a new administrative position, as superintendent of the Hermosa Beach City School District. Keller, who has retired as Redondo’s Superintendent, was one of two consultants retained by the district in May to conduct the search for a new superintendent.
Wildes is the second former Redondo principal to be named Hermosa Superintendent. She officially starts Thursday, August 1.
Wildes succeeds Jason Johnson, who is leaving Hermosa to become Superintendent of the El Segundo Unified School District. Johnson was a principal at Lincoln Elementary in Redondo Beach prior to being named Hermosa Superintendent four years ago.
Wildes said she took the Hermosa job because of the district’s positive reputation.
“Everyone I talked to — teachers, principals, parents — told me they love this district. They don’t just like it. They love it. That strong emotion is what drew me.”
Last Thursday, Wildes felt reassured she made the right decision during a two hour lunch with Hermosa Valley Principal Jessica Bledsoe, and View/Vista schools Principal Hillary Overbeck.
“We shared our backgrounds, and talked about the curriculum, like the new science program being introduced at Valley next year. I’m looking forward to visiting classrooms with them when the students return,” Wildes said.
Though superintendent is primarily an administrative position, Wildes said she will coach Hermosa teachers.
“Teachers need coaches the same as athletes. Every school year, there are new kids, and new challenges,” she said.
Wildes illustrated the changes teachers face by recalling “The Reading War” she was conscripted into when she started teaching in 1994.
The Reading War was a heated, nationwide controversy that pitted proponents of Balanced Literacy against The Science of Reading advocates.
Columbia University Professor Lucy Calkins promoted Balanced Literacy with workshops across the country. Wildes’ Georgia school district embraced Balanced Literacy, and Wildes attended Calkins workshops.
Balanced Literacy taught children to read through context. Yellow might be accompanied by an illustration of a lemon, and a butterfly by a butterfly illustration. Balanced Literacy largely abandoned phonics, which teaches children to sound out, or “decode” words after memorizing the sound letters and letter combinations make.
Balanced Literacy fell out of favor after a 2022 study found fewer than half of New York third graders could read at grade level. New York City Schools had been mandated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2003 to apply Balanced Reading to teaching reading. Balanced Reading was replaced by The Science of Reading, a phonics and content based curriculum.
“An entire generation of kids was taught to sound out words. They never learned about the ‘schwa’ sound (a soft, or ‘lazy’ vowel, such as the final ‘a’ in banana, or the ‘e’ in chicken), Wildes said.
“In Redondo, we found kids who struggled in high school had poor reading skills. We had to rethink how we taught reading.”
“If you go into a first grade in Redondo now, you’ll see kids pulling apart words and sentences, and Redondo is seeing promising results,” Wildes said.
Another recent example of changes on the educational front is State Assembly Bill 101. The 2021 bill requires one semester of ethnic studies for high school graduation.
As a Redondo assistant superintendent, Wildes helped a 13-member school district committee develop the ethnic studies program.
The program will begin as a pilot program this year and be incorporated into freshman English next year.
Freshman English students now read mainstream, Western literature, such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Lord of the Flies.” The new readings will draw from a broader cultural spectrum. It will include “Born a Crime,” by Treavor Noah, the South African-born, late night talk show host. His father was white and his mother Black when interracial relationships were illegal in South Africa. Other books include “American Born Chinese,” by Gene Luen Yang, and “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,” by author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.
Redondo decided to make ethnic studies a freshman year class, Wildes said when the program was approved by the district board in February, because, “We felt the lessons in ethnic studies are about building empathy and community. It might set the tone and increase the culture of the school.”
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District approved a course, to be called Diversity and Cultural Studies, in March to comply with AB 101. It will also start as a pilot program this year and be integrated into the curriculum next year.
Because the Hermosa school district does not have a high school, it is not subject to AB 101.
Wildes said her favorite part of the school day is greeting kids as they arrive on campus.
Her favorite responsibility, she said, is coaching teachers and principals.
“I like it a lot more than evaluating teachers. I want teachers to feel they can come to me when they need help, as opposed to me ‘catching’ them needing help,” she said.
Wildes’ most pressing administrative responsibility, she said, is assuring passage of the $28 million school bond on the November 5 ballot.
“We have a very generous education foundation. It gives students the opportunity to develop their passions for music, art, computers, and theater, so when they go to high school they can make friends with students who share their passions.”
The bond is needed, she said, to upgrade Hermosa Valley Middle School.
As former Superintendent Johnson said prior to his departure, “We want science labs as good as Manhattan Beach Middle School’s.”
The bond money will also be used for facilities and field improvements, and to make access to the campus more difficult to prevent tragedies like the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting.
Wildes pointed out that the new bond won’t increase property taxes. Instead, it will extend the 2002 and 2014 property taxes that are due to expire. Hermosa’s $34.95 tax rate is less than half that of Manhattan Beach‘s ($87.96) and Redondo’s ($72.34). El Segundo’s tax rate is $153.07. ER
