Steven Richardson is the new interim superintendent at SMCSD, effective Oct. 1.(Keri Brenner/Marin Independent Journal)
The Sausalito Marin City School District has hired an administrator in Southern California as interim superintendent.
Steven Richardson accepted a contract through June 2028 at $275,000 a year. District trustees unanimously approved the contract on Thursday.
The contract starts on Oct. 1.
“We greatly anticipate the opportunity his leadership brings in creating a world-class school for the children of Sausalito and Marin City,” said Lauren Walters, president of the district board.
Richardson has worked for the 8,700-student Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District for the past 16 years. In 2022, he was appointed executive director of its elementary schools division, comparable to superintendent for the kind of TK-8 school districts that are in Marin.
“It’s been a 30-year journey,” Richardson, 56, said of his career in California public schools. “And I feel like every experience that I’ve had has led me to this place.”
Richardson’s district is considerably larger than the Sausalito Marin City School District, which has about 270 students in one school. But Richardson said it is similar in its racial and cultural makeup.
“For the last 16 years, I’ve been in a community, much like this one, with such a beautiful sense of diversity,” he said. “That’s what’s really drawing me. It’s really hard to find.”
Richardson will replace LaResha Huffman, who departed in June as superintendent after three years on the job. Huffman’s predecessor, Itoco Garcia, held the job for four years.
“This is a superintendent who has had experience with a district like ours,” said Shirley Thornton, a former trustee. “Hopefully that will help us be the world-class school that we know we can be.”
Recruitment consultant Terena Mares, a former superintendent for the district, said she used her knowledge of its dynamics in her search for a superintendent.
“The board of trustees chose Dr. Richardson based on his extensive experience leading school systems in diverse communities,” Mares wrote in a statement released by the school district on Friday. “That includes his understanding of the dynamics of a socioeconomically, racially and ethnically diverse community.”
Amy Hale, principal of the district’s TK-8 school, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Sausalito, was on the candidate interview panel on Sept. 1.
“Not only did he know my name,” Hale said, “he knew what things I have written, and he had my ‘clarity, coherence and capacity’ lines that I have used. I was grateful for that. He had done his homework, and I appreciated that.”
Richardson, who said he would expect to relocate with his family to the Bay Area after the 2026-27 school year, has vowed to add more staff members from diverse backgrounds. He also intends to develop a strong relationship with the Sausalito and Marin City communities.
“Dr. Richardson has also built a track record of long-term commitment to the districts he serves,” Mares said in the statement. “The board was drawn to that same staying power in considering him for this role.”
Richardson, who grew up in Detroit, received a master’s degree and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of California at Los Angeles. He is married and has four children.
Much of his career has been at Title I schools, mostly as an elementary and secondary school principal. Title I schools are those that receive extra federal funding because many of the students come from low-income families.
“I welcome the chance to immerse myself in the SMCSD community and work alongside leaders at every level toward the common values of student centeredness, belonging and mutual accountability,” Richardson wrote in his letter of intent to the district.