New superintendent in Los Altos New superintendent in Los Altos (May 06, 2005)

Tim Justus takes helm of elementary school district

By Kathy Schrenk

Los Altos' newly-named school chief hasn't started his new job yet, and already he's drawn boos from a crowd of parents at a school board meeting.

You see, he's a Dodger fan.

But the five school board members, after a seven-month, nation-wide search, decided to overlook that one major flaw and choose Tim Justus as the new district superintendent anyway.

A Southern California native, Justus has been superintendent in Santa Rosa's Rincon Valley district for seven years. Before that he was a superintendent at a district in Santa Barbara County for 10 years. Last year, he was the Sonoma County Superintendent of the Year.

He will start his new job on July 1, replacing 18-year superintendent Marge Gratiot, who announced her retirement last year.

Justus visited the district Monday and was formally introduced at the school board meeting that night.

He told the board and the few dozen parents who were gathered at the meeting that he was thrilled to be at the Los Altos district. "To be able to come here is absolutely amazing," he said.

"It doesn't take too long around this district to realize children come first, and that's how I operate," he said.

Rincon Valley's enrollment is similar to Los Altos', and both districts have eight schools. In recent years the district developed a school facilities modernization plan, funded in large part by a successful $24 million bond measure.

Following in Gratiot's footsteps will be his biggest challenge, he believes, and that's what he's most concerned about. "My goals will be to continue to follow that tradition and that legacy," he said.

Like Gratiot, Justus started his education as a teacher -- with 12 years teaching junior high -- and then worked his way up to principal and then superintendent.

The search for a new superintendent was exhaustive, and exhausting, at times, said school board president Jay Thomas. "We spent a lot of time interviewing the top five candidates," he said. Thomas barely went home during one weekend of interviewing, he said.

But Justus didn't seem to mind. "I enjoyed meeting with this group and talking about education," Justus said of the interview process.

Justus and his wife of 31 years, Kim, have three daughters. All of them went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; one is in marketing, one is an organic farmer and one makes wine.

Besides following the hated Dodgers, Justus enjoys golf and fly fishing. He has a master's degree in education from California State University at Fresno.
E-mail Kathy Schrenk at kschrenk@mv-voice.com

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