Two Del Mar district leaders making the move to Poway Unified

The Del Mar Union School District’s assistant superintendent of instructional services will be moving to Poway. Shelley Petersen was named the new associate superintendent of learning support services in the Poway Unified School District, starting July 1.

Petersen has been in the Del Mar district for 18 years, serving as principal of Ashley Falls School before she became the assistant superintendent in 2012.

The Poway Unified board approved Petersen’s new contract on May 11, with a salary of $258,101 a year. Her salary in Del Mar for the 2022-23 school year was $213,169.

Carmel Del Mar School principal Julie Lerner is also heading to Poway Unified. On May 11, the board approved her new position as an executive director of learning support services.

With the move, Lerner will be returning to the Poway district—she was a teacher at Ashley Falls and an assistant principal at Sage Canyon School before being hired as principal at Midland Elementary School in Poway in 2007. She returned to DMUSD in 2013 as principal at Del Mar Hills Academy before taking over as principal of Carmel Del Mar. Both schools were named Blue Ribbon Schools under her leadership.