District top job offered to Roberson

By Jeff Hudson | Enterprise staff writer

The Davis school board voted late Monday evening to offer the job of superintendent to Winfred Roberson, who was hired by the Davis school district almost exactly a year ago as the principal of Davis High School.

School board president Tim Taylor told The Enterprise that 'the board decided this evening to extend an offer and negotiate a contract with Winfred Roberson.' Terms of the expected contract - including the number of years of service, as well as salary, will be finalized over the next week or two. Taylor indicated he expects that the new superintendent's contract would probably be on the agenda for the June 30 school board meeting.

Taylor - speaking on behalf of the school board, as is the custom when a major administrative hire is made in closed session - said that 'we are looking forward to Winfred stepping into role of superintendent, and the board is unanimously in support of his appointment.' Roberson was not present when the school board's decision was announced shortly before midnight.

Taylor acknowledged that by drafting Roberson as the district's new administrative leader, the school board was also opening up one of the district's top administrative posts. 'The high school is a hugely important piece of our district, we intent to turn our attention immediately to the pending vacancy and work with our incoming superintendent to fill that slot as quickly as possible with the highest caliber principal,' Taylor said.

Roberson, 43, was hired as principal at Davis High School last June, after serving for five years as assistant principal at Centennial High School in the Corona-Norco school district in Riverside County.

At Centennial High, Roberson's duties included supporting the school's International Baccalaureate program (with an enrollment of about 65 students in grades 11-12). He also supervised the administration of STAR testing and the California High School Exit Exam. Roberson also was involved in the formation of a program called Unity Forum, which encouraged students at the ethnically diverse Centennial campus 'to discuss issues that are affecting students, and deal with commonalities as well as differences.'

Prior to joining the staff at Centennial High School, Roberson taught for two years at a middle school in the Corona-Norco district. He also worked for eight years in the Lynwood school district in Los Angeles County, as both teacher and administrator at the middle-school level. Roberson began his career teaching social science and English at a middle school in the Compton school district in Los Angeles County.

Roberson grew up the Southern California community of Carson. As a college student, he came north to UC Berkeley in the late-1980s, where he played fullback on a football team that also included Marc Hicks, 'an awesome running back,' Roberson recalled when he was hired last year. Hicks serves as the school-to-community liaison with the Davis school district.

Roberson finished his undergraduate education at Berkeley in 1990, majoring in rhetoric, with a minor in music. He completed his teaching credential at Cal State Dominguez Hills, and earned a master's in education and an administrative credential through National University.

Roberson and his wife Yvette have three children. They settled in Davis last summer.

This article originally appeared in the Davis Enterprise on June 22, 2010. The complete story is available to subscribers at http://www.davisenterprise.com.