Solana Beach superintendent earns high marks in first-year performance review

At the Aug. 8 meeting, the Solana Beach School District board thanked Superintendent Jodee Brentlinger for her leadership during her first year as superintendent following her annual performance-based evaluation.

“One of the most important responsibilities of a school board is the hiring of the superintendent. After a year of seeing Ms. Jodee Brentlinger’s open and collaborative leadership style, as well as her forward-thinking strategic planning, we feel like we hit a home run,” said SBSD Board President Julie Union. “We appreciate the many successes of the past year with Ms. Brentlinger as our superintendent and look forward to her ongoing leadership in our district.”

Brentlinger joined the Solana Beach staff a year ago after serving as the assistant superintendent for educational services in Huntington Beach’s Ocean View School District. For most of her career Brentlinger worked in the Capistrano Unified School District, where she was assistant superintendent for human resources, a principal and classroom teacher. Solana Beach selected her as superintendent after a national search with highly competitive candidates.

In her performance review, Union said trustees praised Brentlinger for her “positive and confident leadership,” her approach to employee negotiations, attention to the district’s operating budget, oversight of Measure JJ and related construction projects, approaching challenges as opportunities and for her ability to engage all district stakeholders.

“I am very proud to be associated with the board, leaders, teachers, and staff of the district,” Brentlinger said. “None of my accomplishments would have been possible without the dedicated work of our school principals and our teaching and non-teaching staff members. We work as a team in the district with a clear focus on what is best for students.”

-Karen Billing