\u201cStudent experience and performance have remained central drivers in my work,\u201d Baker said in a video released Thursday<\/a>, referring to her long career as an educator, which began in the classroom.<\/p>\n She assumed the superintendent role at a pivotal moment and was tasked with navigating school closures and reopenings during the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, she has led the district through a controversial grading policy, new rules on phone use<\/a> designed to reclaim attention and protect student mental health, initiatives to promote Black student achievement and belonging<\/a>, a revamped approach to school safety<\/a> and a series<\/a> of<\/a> cuts<\/a> and strategies<\/a> aimed at addressing the district\u2019s dire financial situation tied to declining enrollment.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Baker has led Long Beach Unified with integrity, vision, and deep humanity,\u201d Board of Education President Diana Craighead said in a press release. \u201cHer commitment to students, staff, and community has strengthened our District and positioned us well for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Craighead and her fellow board of trustees extended Baker\u2019s contract through October 2029 at the Oct. 15, 2025, meeting, in what Craighead called \u201ca vote of confidence,\u201d one customarily conferred to senior district staff, though the extension provoked frustration that superintendent-level contracts were secured at a time when teachers were in extended contract negotiations.<\/p>\n Baker didn\u2019t give a specific reason for her retirement or its timing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision to retire has not rested lightly with me because there is so much more to do. At the same time, I hold deep trust in those who are here and those who will come next,\u201d she said in the video.<\/p>\n Indeed, her successor will inherit the problems of a large budget deficit, declining enrollment and fallout from recently announced cuts to programs and staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach Unified Superintendent Jill Baker announced Thursday that she will retire at the end of the 2025-26…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-135782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/30AUG23-First-3-1024x582.jpg\")
LBUSD Superintendent Jill Baker joins a kindergarten class at Garfield Elementary on the first day of school at Garfield Elementary School in Long Beach, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n