Dr. Ron Crates
Interim Superintendent
Hollister School District

            Long doesn’t begin to describe the hours Ron Crates puts in.
            The interim superintendent of the Hollister School District leaves his Redwood City home by 6:30 every morning, bracing himself for the 72 mile one way trip and the often 12 hour days that lay ahead.
            But to hear him tell it, the daily grind of commuting and not seeing his family on a regular basis has not diminished the enthusiasm Crates has for his work.
            “I am really enjoying myself,” he said. “I am surrounded by good people, a really good board, good staff and really good principals. It is really energizing to be here.”
            Crates was hired in August to take over the district on a temporary basis following the resignation of Judith Barranti in July. He comes to Hollister with 24 years of experience as a school district superintendent, the last 15 of which were spent as superintendent of the Redwood City School District.
            He comes to Hollister at a somewhat difficult time, as the district continues to struggle financially in the face of stagnant enrollment as well as with its Academic Performance Index (API), a requirement from the state regarding student performance levels.
            “We are facing two really big challenges,” Crates said. “The first is our API levels, which are below what the state wants them to be. We do not have enough children at acceptable levels, so we have to work to bring those numbers up. The second is our financial status.”
            Hollister, like so many other school districts statewide, has had to make major cuts in its spending, including teacher lay offs and program cuts. Even after laying off 37 full-time personnel and reassigning vice principals at all six of the district’s elementary schools, the budget was still short of a state required 3 percent reserve requirement, which in Hollister’s case equals about $1.26 million.
            “There are some serious financial difficulties ahead,” he said. “My plan is to work with the different employee groups. I’m trying not to feel like I have to take care of all of this in just one year. It needs to be done over a period of time, so whatever is done does not dismantle the district.”
            While the challenges may seem daunting, Crates says he has received a lot of support from his staff, as well as from the San Benito County Office of Education.
            “One of the best things about this job is always the people,” he said. “Everyone is very supportive, and the people from the county office of education have been extremely helpful and supportive, especially Tim Foley (county superintendent), Larry Elrod (assistant superintendent, business services) and Susan Villa (assistant superintendent, educational services).”
            In order to reduce the amount of time he spends on the road, Crates has finally decided to find an apartment in town, although he has no plans at this time to move to Hollister. His wife, a former middle school principal, is on an extended leave in order to care for a sick parent, and is often out of town. The Crates’ children are young adults and out of the home, so staying in town a few nights a week is a feasible option, says Crates.
            “I have a lot of night meetings, so there are plenty of times when it feels like that by the time I get home, I just sleep for a while and get back up again,” he said.
            Crates is contracted with HSD through just this school year; as for whether or not he would consider staying past this year, Crates says he has not yet thought about the possibility of extending his contract.
            “Right now, I just take things one week at a time,” he said. “There is still a lot of work to be done here, but reasonable people can resolve these types of things in a pragmatic way if they want to.”

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Stephanie Siddens
Principal
Aromas School

            Most teachers hope for a class size of around 20 to 25 students. Stephanie Siddens has 430 students, and she couldn’t be happier.
            Okay, so she isn’t their teacher; instead Siddens is the new principal at Aromas School. But the first time administrator is taking a hands-on approach to her job, enjoying every minute of it.
            “I love working with the teachers, the support staff and the families. We have incredible people here in Aromas,” said Siddens, 44. “I loved being a teacher, and now I feel like I have 430 students instead of only 20!”
            An educator for the past 19 years, Siddens graduated from San Jose State University in 1986, and earned her teaching credential a year later. She taught in the Soquel Elementary School District for 15 years, and then spent three years as a supervisor of teacher education at the University of California at Santa Cruz, working with student teachers in the classroom.
            The Santa Cruz native, with support from her husband, Dan, a Soquel High School science teacher, and her daughter, Rachel, decided to go back to school, and in 2005 earned a Master’s degree in teacher leadership and supervision. She describes her first days as an elementary school principal as “exciting, wonderful, busy, overwhelming, satisfying, you name it, I feel it!”
            Aromas has proven to be the perfect fit for Siddens, who says she wanted to work in a small, rural school in a small school district.
            “I love the demographics of the school; Aromas truly has a diverse population of students,” she said. “I was familiar with the district and some of the people who worked here, and I knew that this was a place I would feel at home. The community has been wonderfully welcoming and helpful. I realize that there have been several different principals in the last few years, and I have really appreciated their support and patience.”
            Despite the many changes in leadership, Siddens says Aromas School is in strong shape in many ways, particularly the quality and professionalism of the school staff. Her challenges, she says, are to raise student Academic Performance Index (API) scores and to maintain the rise students have shown in test scores recently.
            “I want every student to achieve their highest potential. All of the work we are doing as a staff will help us accomplish this goal,” she says. “I have changed the structure of faculty meetings to allow teachers to collaborate and work on curriculum and instruction. My ultimate goal is for every family in Aromas to want to send their child to our school.”
            In the meantime, Siddens is taking things one day at a time, enjoying her time with her students and her staff.
            “I feel happy when a student calls out my name and runs out to give me a hug,” she said. “I feel happy when I see the teachers interacting with their students. I am pleased with the way my secretaries greet the parents that come into the office. I love it here, and no matter how challenging a day has been,I have not had one minute of regret about taking this job. I plan to be here for a long time.”

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