OUSD Board Member Gary Yee to Be Named Acting Superintendent

By Bay City News Service

An Oakland Unified School District board member, Gary Yee, is expected to take over as acting superintendent following the recent resignation of Superintendent Tony Smith, district officials announced Sunday.

Yee, a board member since 2003, has been a student, parent, teacher and principal within the district at various times over the years, board President David Kakishiba said Sunday in a letter to district staff.

According to Yee's biography on the OUSD website, he retired from the Peralta Community Colleges as vice chancellor for educational services in September 2008, after serving stints as director of research, associate vice chancellor of planning, and dean of instruction at Merritt College.

Yee will be formally announced as a candidate for the position today, Monday, and the board will vote on the appointment on April 24.

If Yee is appointed as acting superintendent, the board will then have 60 days to decide how to fill his vacant District 4 seat. The district includes portions of Montclair.

Smith announced his resignation, effective June 30, in a letter to the board of education on April 4, according to district officials. Smith said he is moving his family to Chicago to be closer to his father-in-law, who is in poor health.

"The decision to leave at this time is very difficult," he wrote in the letter to OUSD board of education president David Kakishiba. "However, my commitment to my family first means this is the right decision at this time."

"The Superintendent will be leaving a legacy that Oakland can be proud of," the board said in a statement. "We have no doubt that Oakland is ready for the work ahead."

Smith has served at the head of Oakland public schools for the past four years. He was appointed in May 2009 and assumed the post that July.

He had previously served as a deputy superintendent at the San Francisco Unified School District. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley and earned master's and doctorate degrees at UC Berkeley's graduate school of education

Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

Don't miss a day of Rockridge news, opinion and events. Sign up here for the Rockridge Patch morning e-newsletter. And 'like' us on Facebook!