News Brief
Tuesday, June 16, 2026 — 9:19 am
June 16, 2026
Continuing a four-decade pattern of succession, Long Beach Unified School District has again turned inward in selecting its next superintendent.
The state’s fourth-largest district, with 66,000 students, announced this week it has promoted longtime administrator David Zaid to succeed Jill Baker, Long Beach’s first woman superintendent. Zaid is the fourth consecutive superintendent, dating back to the hiring of Carl Cohn in 1992, to have spent their entire career within the district.
During his 32 years working in the district, Zaid, a graduate of Long Beach Polytechnic High School, has served as director of employee relations, assistant superintendent of human resource services, and, most recently, assistant superintendent, elementary office.
“As I reflect on this moment in Long Beach Unified, I do so with both urgency and deep respect for the foundation built by the transformational leaders who came before us,” Zaid said in a statement.
According to the Long Beach Post, the executive search firm Leadership Associates recommended Zaid after a nationwide search that solicited 21 applications, and after information from community members through a survey and a series of listening sessions.
“We have chosen somebody who has displayed a vision for how we go forward,” said board President Diana Craighead.
Baker, who served six years as superintendent, followed Christopher Steinhauser, who served 18 years, who was preceded by Cohn, who was superintendent for a decade.
“If you value stability and continuity of leadership, this approach definitely works for Long Beach as a large urban district. Having said that, each of us have been different in our approach to the challenges facing the district,” Cohn wrote in an email. “I was selected during the Rodney King riots, while Jill was selected during the pandemic. Chris faced a huge crisis in the 2007-2008 recession. Some would argue that each of us was the right leader for that time period.”
Cohn recalled what someone said about him after Cohn was selected superintendent: “Carl Cohn is dangerous! He’s an insider with an outsider’s perspective!”
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