Cindy Marten, the newly-named SDUSD superintendent and Scott Barnett, a SDUSD trustee, talk to KPBS about the choice of Marten to lead the district. | Video Credit: KPBS
By Will Carless
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Listen to a KPBS Midday Edition interview with Cindy Marten and Scott Barnett here.
Cindy Marten, principal of Central Elementary School in City Heights, will succeed San Diego Unified Superintendent Bill Kowba, who announced Tuesday he would retire this summer.
 Cindy Marten, the newly-named superintendent of the San DiegoUnified School District, at a press conference announcing her appointment. | Photo Credit: Kyla Calvert |
Marten’s appointment was announced at a press conference Wednesday evening at San Diego Unified headquarters.
Marten, a 25-year veteran educator, has worked at Central since 2002, first as a teacher, then as the school’s principal. Before that, she worked as a teacher in the Poway Unified School District. In recent years, she has played an increasingly visible role at the district, though she has never held a more senior position than principal.
At the press conference, Marten wiped away tears as each of the five board members praised her dedication, hard work and knowledge of the district.
“What an incredible honor,” Marten said. “I believe in the hope and promise of public education in America, but I believe in doing the work to show America what good schools are all about.”
School board President John Lee Evans said the board unanimously chose Marten after a long discussion in a closed session meeting Tuesday, just after Superintendent Bill Kowba announced his plans to step down.
Marten has long been a star of San Diego Unified. She oversaw a dramatic increase in test scores at Central, a school that serves a community where 99 percent of families are low income and 85 percent of students are English learners. School board members have long steered reporters to her school to showcase the district’s success.
But she now faces an even bigger challenge.
San Diego Unified continues to struggle with a large budget deficit. It is moving forward with a plan to sell off $50 million worth of properties to help balance its budget. Even as new state funding starts flowing from Proposition 30, a tax increase passed in November, the district must spend more than 60 percent of the new funds back-filling long-promised raises and canceling unpaid days off.
Each school board member in turn said Marten was the ideal candidate for the job.
Rather than holding a nationwide search, as they have in the past, the board needed to look no further than City Heights, members said. Marten and her school embody the district’s approach to community based schooling, said Trustee Richard Barrera.
“Most of the students at Central, most of their families, are struggling,” Barrera said. “Many of them are immigrants. And yet, when you talk to the students at Central, you see incredible confidence in their ability, their belief that they’re going to be contributors to this community and this country.”
Marten must still be officially chosen by the school board in an open, public meeting. Evans said he plans to calendar the official appointment for the next meeting on March 5.