STOCKTON- Dr. Jack McLaughlin has been placed on the agenda as the choice to help SUSD transition from the failed leadership of controversial and soon to be former superintendent John Deasy. Dr. Jack McLaughlin is an alum of the University of Southern California and the Former State Superintendent of Nevada and Stockton Unified School District. He has also served as Superintendent of Berkeley, Hemet, Sunnyvalye and South San Francisco. He has been honored at California Superintendent of the Year and a nominee for National Superintendent of the Year before. In 2006 after George Riddler and Carl Toliver retired, Mc Laughlin led Stockton Unified in a huge School Bond campaign which led to some of the greatest renovations in Stockton Unified School District history. Several elementary schools were opened under his tenure such as Peyton, Pitman and Henry. Chavez High was opened and Franklin, Stagg and Edison received much needed upgrades as well.
Many current and former Stockton Unified administrators were coached and mentored by McLaughlin. “I have worked for the district for over 30 years; and Jack has been the most honest and effective Superintendent that I have ever known. People trust Jack”, says Marylin Brown, a union leader for the California School Employees Association. If voted in, Dr. McLaughlin will help guide the district for a few months as interim superintendent as the district faces major financial issues due to the wasteful spending of Deasy who who resigned from Los Angeles Unified while under FBI investigation for wasting over a billion dollars on a program students couldn’t even use prior to coming to Stockton. Unlike Deasy, the validity of McLaughlin’s Doctorate has never been called into question.
“Coming in as a retired Educator with no personal agenda, Dr. McLaughlin has all of the necessary experience to help immediately put the focus back on our children and away from special interest looking to profit off of the backs of our hard working students and staff”, says SUSD Board President Kathy Garcia.
The immediate need for an interim superintendent comes as a result of John Deasy resigning amidst yet more investigations and several failed attempts to force the Board of Trustees to pass a resolution that would have given $2,000,000 meant for students back to real estate developers in fee waivers. The efforts led to a split among a board that hired him unanimously and is now fractured by the three board members (Lange Luntao, Angelann Flores, Candy Vargas) who are affiliated or supportive of mayor Michael Tubbs’ “reinvent stockton” scheme and those majority trying to do right by parents and students (Kathy Garcia, Maria Mendez, Cecilia Mendez, Scot McBrian).
Comments 1
I have recently began reading your site thinking it was accurately reporting the news. I truly appreciated the stories regarding Superintendent Deasy. Your article regarding Jack McLaughlin indicates your site has other agendas. McLaughlin was a disaster for SUSD. Most importantly he hurt kids. Athletic programs were sanctioned funding was lost he brought a misogynist to the district and was recruited by the former mayor. I am disappointed in your clear lack of interest in the truth.