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Mountain View Whisman’s next superintendent will be a familiar face, with the school board set to vote next week to hire Interim Superintendent Jeff Baier to lead the district on a permanent basis.
The school district has been looking for a new superintendent since Ayindé Rudolph resigned in November. Since early February, Baier has been serving as the district’s interim leader, a position he took over from Kevin Skelly.
Baier has a long history in local education – and will be coming out of retirement to take the job. He served as superintendent of the Los Altos School District for a dozen years, leading that district from 2010 until 2022.
In an interview, Baier told the Voice that when he retired almost three years ago, he had no intention of ever going back to work as a superintendent. When Mountain View Whisman reached out last fall and asked if he’d serve in the interim role, Baier said that he was “thrilled” to help out, but still didn’t imagine that it would become a long-term gig.
“I got here and just fell back in love with the work,” Baier said. “This place is doing great work … and I was just inspired again to stay on and continue.”
Baier’s roots in Mountain View education go back more than 30 years. He began his teaching career in the Mountain View School District in 1990, ultimately becoming principal of Landels Elementary School in 1998. He is also a graduate of St. Francis High School, a Mountain View private school.
The school board is expected to vote on a three-year contract with Baier at a Thursday, April 3 meeting. The draft contract calls for him to earn $385,000 annually, with a $500 monthly car allowance.
That’s at the high end of the $335,000-$385,000 salary range that the board approved earlier this month. Baier will be paid roughly the same amount that Rudolph was earning at the time of his resignation, which was around $383,000.
One major difference, however, is that Baier’s contract doesn’t include any financial support for his housing. The school board gave Rudolph a $1.2 million low-interest home loan in 2020, which proved controversial with some in the community.
Rudolph led the district for 10 years, before resigning in November. Rudolph left as the district faced controversies on multiple fronts, including over certain spending decisions and an impending state audit. Rudolph said in a public letter that his decision to resign followed a “recent health scare,” and that he would be spending more time with his family.
In January, the school board hired the search firm Leadership Associates for $27,500 to help find the district’s next leader. The board ultimately considered 27 applications and interviewed five people, including Baier, for the job, board President Bill Lambert said in an interview.
The district was very fortunate that someone with Baier’s experience and knowledge of Mountain View Whisman wanted the job, Lambert said.
“He just instilled so much confidence in the district staff and the teachers. He was so willing to talk with the community members,” Lambert said. “He’s been doing public outreach since the moment he started – and not just talking with the people who were easy to speak with. (He) made sure he spoke with the people who had the biggest concerns.”
Lambert said that he believes Baier will be able to help Mountain View Whisman understand what worked well in the Los Altos School District and implement some of those practices.
Baier acknowledged that he will be leading Mountain View Whisman during a difficult time, and said he would focus on establishing trust by building relationships with staff and community members.
“It’s about being honest, having integrity, telling people what you’re going to do and then following through with it,” Baier said.
Like I said in here months ago….who wants to do the same job for less? I want to hear what the prior complainers in this very comment section have to say about $385k for a very capable young man!
Please, by all means, call into the next District meeting and let him know he is overpaid. The same must hold true for him, right IVG?
What? (oh that guy)
/ It is an interesting choice. 3 years could be a good stabilizing choice. A decade or so ago, I visited a Los Altos Board meeting and it was very clear that Baier was very concerned and proud of a report on how well Economically Disadvantaged (free lunch) kids did in his district, compared to most districts. They have a lot of resources but use them academically very well (when not fighting charters). The staff actually make a point of study-reporting just on the High Needs kids. Brought in outsiders to keep-them-honest.
// In ‘the old academic rating system’ API, Academic Performance Index, LASD often had individual schools rating 10/10 in decides absolute API/ deciles comparative SED schools.
// Baier is willing to coffee-talk. I sure give that to him! (personally & recently)
The only things that might ‘trip-him-up’, OPACITY & the powers of a Unitary Executive.
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again, no, no
Yeah
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
– apologies to Pete Townsend
He’s got quite a bit of a toxic mess to clean up at the district office. He needs to clean house and disperse many of the Rudolph loyalists.