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The Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District will officially have a new leader at the helm when the 2024-25 school year begins in August.
The school board formally voted to hire Eric Volta as superintendent at a Monday, June 3, board meeting. He is expected to start this summer and will replace Nellie Meyer, who is retiring after five years in the district.
Volta will come to MVLA from the Liberty Union High School District in the East Bay, where he has served as superintendent since 2011. At Monday’s meeting, Volta thanked the board and said that he was looking forward to taking on the new position.
“Everything that I’ve learned about the district in the last few months has been extremely positive,” Volta said. “I’m really excited to be joining the team.”
At Monday’s meeting, board President Sanjay Dave recounted Volta’s multiple decades of experience in high school education and said that the board was pleased to introduce him to the community.
“Eric brings a wealth of experience in all aspects of high school and district leadership,” Dave said. “The board hopes you will join us in welcoming Eric Volta as our new superintendent on July 1.”
The board voted 4-0 to approve Volta’s employment contract, with board member Catherine Vonnegut absent. The agreement is for three years and provides an annual base salary of $350,000.
In any year in which Volta receives a positive employment evaluation, the contract states that the board will extend his contract by another year and increase his salary to account for inflation. The board also has the option to give him additional pay increases.
The contract calls for him to get a one-time, $10,000 allowance to get housing within 20 miles of the district office, as well as reimbursement for moving expenses.
Volta reflects on his new position
In an interview with the Voice, Volta said that he was excited to join MVLA and to come back to the South Bay. He grew up in Santa Clara and graduated from Santa Clara High School, where he later worked as a vice principal.
Volta recounted childhood memories of being at the high schools in Mountain View and Los Altos. His father coached football at Santa Clara High, and Volta remembers his mom picking the kids up at school to watch games in Mountain View and Los Altos. When he reached high school, Volta played sports on those same fields.
Volta has spent his entire career as a teacher and administrator at the high school level. His experience includes being a teacher and coach at Wilcox High School, vice principal at Santa Clara High, and an assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent in the Liberty Union High School District.
Working at the high school level has been particularly impactful, Volta said, because he has gotten to see students grow and find success through multiple avenues, including the arts, athletics, volunteering and clubs.
“Watching adolescents become young men and women is such a rewarding piece of education,” Volta said.
Volta has spent the past 13 years leading the Liberty Union High School District and said that he wasn’t planning on leaving. He described the district as a place that he loves, where his children have attended school and he has lived for 24 years.
But when he found out about the opening at MVLA, Volta said that the more he learned, the more positive he felt the decision would be.
“A new district, new culture, testing myself again – (it) just really sounded great to me,” Volta said.
Board and community honors outgoing superintendent
At Tuesday’s meeting, the board also recognized retiring Superintendent Nellie Meyer for her work in the district.
Board member Phil Faillace praised Meyer for her leadership during the pandemic and in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. Meyer had just joined the district the prior fall, and Faillace described how the district was facing “the turmoil of a medical and a social crisis simultaneously.”
“It was a time of tremendous anxiety and Nellie was a comforting voice through that,” Faillace said.
Dave went through a list of Meyer’s achievements that he’d put together, including creating a wellness coordinator position to oversee mental health services in the district, creating a Family Partnership Council and Student Advisory Council, and hiring new principals at Mountain View, Los Altos and Alta Vista high schools, as well as a new director at the district’s adult school.
“On a personal note, I want to thank you, Nellie, for your wisdom and friendship over the past five years,” Dave said. “I’ve learned a tremendous amount about school districts (and) high school education from our regular conversions. I wish you the very best in your retirement and all your future endeavors.”
Representatives from the offices of U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo and state Assemblymember Marc Berman attended the meeting to honor Meyer, as well as Mountain View Mayor Pat Showalter.
Meyer thanked everyone and praised the district’s other leaders, including principals and assistant superintendents for making the district’s successes possible. She also congratulated Volta and said she knew he would do a great job.
Meyer also said that she appreciated the board members for their diligence and high level of engagement, which she said isn’t the case everywhere.
“Throughout the five years, I just want to thank each and every one of you for being such strong teammates,” Meyer said.
Superintendent salaries + benefits in 2022 (calendar year)
$445 K Mountain View-Los Altos (9-12)
$445 K Mountain View (K-8)
$304 K Los Altos (K-8)
$311 K Liberty -Conta Costa Co. (9-12)
All the current occupants of this leadership position.
Information from;
TransparentCalifornia.com