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Atascadero Unified School District selects new superintendent

April 2, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

Atascadero Unified School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to appoint Tom Bennett to serve as the district’s new superintendent.

Bennett starts the job on July 1 at a salary of $233,188. He is then slated to receive yearly 4% raises.

For the past year, Bennett worked as interim superintendent at Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union Elementary School District in Southern California. From 2023 to 2024, Bennett served as the Rancho Santa Fe School District superintendent.

Late last year, Superintendent Tom Butler announced that he planned to retire at the end of 2024. The district then hired Leadership Associates to perform a search. which led the board to consider 24 applicants. The search included E.J. Rossi whom the board first considered hiring.

 


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If Atascadero’s parents are as aggressive as PR’s-his career will be short.


2

I always wonder why former teachers, are never Superintendents…


8

This guy taught but like most hacks a minimum unverified 5 years before he started his climb to a million dollar con-tract.


3

This guy’s LinkedIn says he is an educational consultant and entrepreneur? Nice going A-town. 2 years here 1 year there… his resume even looks like a ladder.


9

11 schools in the district, divided by 233K, a cool 21,000 per school. Only in California, where test scores aren’t that great. 37th out of 50.


14

$233,188, so no serious desire to reduce costs…. Plus “He is then slated to receive yearly 4% raises”, are raises tied to performance or automatic?, we likely know the answer.


12

Don’t worry! The next teachers strike for higher wages, will make this salary level seem paltry.


1