Iglesias must immediately deal with this year's $9 million budget deficit, the state's educational cutbacks and the probability of near-future school closures due to declining enrollment.

Yet as far as Iglesias is concerned, he thinks he has a great job.

"I'm here to stay," says the 55-year-old. "I'm infatuated with San Jose Unified. I think it's a great school district, a great place to be. It will be a great adventure and great challenge. I'm up for it."

SJUSD Board President Gary Rummelhoff, who represents the Almaden Valley area, agrees that Iglesias is prepared for the challenges he'll face. Hired as deputy superintendent in 2002, Iglesias was appointed the district's superintendent-elect in 2003.

"Based on two years of working with him, I think we've made a very good choice," Rummelhoff says. "As a board member, I think our organizational culture is important. We've established a culture of openness and a focus on student achievement. Don respects this and will carry the banner forward."

Iglesias has had considerable practice navigating rough waters. At age 14, the San Francisco native fell in love with surfing and learned to ride the waves in the dangerous waters off Ocean Beach. Decades later, Iglesias attributes his confidence and fearless attitude about life and decision-making to his surfing experiences. He still rides the waves near his Santa Cruz home.

"I've learned a lot of things as far as risk taking," Iglesias says. "I've learned to challenge myself, to face fear and to know that you're going to survive at whatever it is. I think that's helped in my professional life, because I'm willing to take risks that are in the best interest to kids or to advocate for issues that may not be popular but are necessary. I think if you are in a leadership position like this superintendency, you have to be willing to take risks. Surfing has taught me that. I've been held under, almost drowned a few times. I've got scars."

During his early college years, Iglesias was a biology major at UC- Berkeley and planned to become a dentist until he began volunteering as a tutor in Berkeley schools during his senior year.

"I made a connection with kids and just realized that I like kids," Iglesias says. "I like their energy; I like to help them process and sort issues. Once I tutored, I was hooked."

After graduating with a history major, he spent two years in the early 1970s in Santa Paula, Calif., as part of the Teacher Corps Rural Migrant Program. It brought new teachers into rural areas of greatest need, focusing especially on second-language students.

"Santa Paula was a hard place to be, because when you're 22 or 23, there is absolutely nothing to do," Iglesias says. "They roll the sidewalks up at 5 o'clock and everybody disappears. But it was great training."

His first job afterward was in San Jose's Berryessa School District, where he remained for seven years, holding positions as a teacher, counselor and assistant principal.

Then he relocated to Santa Cruz and spent 24 years working in its school district, eventually becoming assistant superintendent. The location was also ideal, providing Iglesias with a one-mile commute, where he was content with his work, family and the nearby surf.

Then in 2001, it was his year as the president of the Association of California School Administrators—a job that required frequent travel throughout the state to lobby for more than 16,000 school administrators—that changed his educational direction once more. During that year, Iglesias realized how much he missed urban areas.

"I decided it was time to do a little give-back," Iglesias says. "I didn't have anything to prove, since I've been successful in the educational area. I could have stayed in Santa Cruz where there was the potential to be superintendent, but I wanted to come back to urban education for whatever amount of time I have between now and retirement."

It was the San Jose Unified School District that impressed him the most.

"They had the guts to take on the 'A-G' requirements," Iglesias says. "No other school district in California does that."

A-G is a college-prep curriculum sequence of courses all SJUSD high school students must take. If they pass each course with a grade of C or better, they can enter the UC and CSU systems.

"Every one of our high schools for every subgroup of kids has made tremendous growth, particularly the Latino kids," Iglesias says. "They went from about 23 percent to 38 percent of the kids who are graduating and who complete A-G. Overall, for all kids it went from about 38 percent to 65 percent, the highest in the state."

Rummelhoff says the ties Iglesias developed with state legislators during his time at ACSA should help him in his new position. "Of 1,000 school districts in the state, we're the 20th largest," says the board president. "There are times we want to pick up the phone and command attention in Sacramento. We want someone leading the district who knows those people and knows how to get things done."

District priorities

Even with improving academic statistics, district enrollments continue to decline. Factors include lower birth rates and families moving out of the expensive Bay Area. Iglesias says private-school enrollment is staying about the same, but the district is projecting a loss of about 500 elementary school children and 300 middle school children during the next two years; high school projections, for now, remain constant. The district currently serves about 31,000 students in grades K­12.

Almaden Valley schools are experiencing the opposite problem, Rummelhoff says, since the area's burgeoning population has led to peak enrollment. "We have schools that are at or very near capacity," he adds. "I just got a call from a parent who was upset that her child was put on a waiting list at Williams Elementary."

The district's enrollment imbalance is due in part to its magnet-school programs and open-choice enrollment, both products of a court-ordered desegregation plan. All students within the district can apply to magnet schools to take advantage of their specialized curricula, but the district gives first preference to students in economically disadvantaged families. Next on the list are children who live in a magnet school's neighborhood, followed by siblings of students at the school and, lastly, all other students.

At the high school level, Iglesias says, about 90 percent of students end up in one of their top three schools of choice. All parents can now send their elementary-age children to their neighborhood schools, which the majority do, or they can apply to a magnet school.

"About 82 percent of the parents that we survey tell us they love the choice program," Iglesias says. "The concept, to me, is a healthy concept."

Other changes in the offing may not be so healthy for the district.

"We need to send a message in the community about the challenges we face, including possibly having to make drastic cuts in expenditures within the next couple years," Iglesias says. "We cut $11 million the last year or so. We've cut the things, and we're down to people."

Rummelhoff worries that the public isn't getting the message that the district's financial troubles may lead to increased class sizes and the loss of sixth-period classes at the middle school level.

"From the parcel-tax discussions of the last few weeks, we've come to understand that the community doesn't understand the problem as well as we thought," he added. "Community discussion is critical."

Cutting people also translates into school closings, and it appears that in addition to three district schools—Hester, Hammer-Montessori and Erikson—that closed earlier this year, additional schools will meet the same fate beginning in the 2005­06 school year.

Karen Fuqua, district spokeswoman, says Iglesias and his team will concentrate this fall on meeting the public and business leaders to get the pulse of the community on the district's budget crisis. She says the district will aggressively continue to seek donations and grants from local foundations.

Fuqua, who worked with retiring San Jose Unified School District Superintendent Linda Murray for 11 years, has noticed that Iglesias does a lot of information processing prior to making decisions.

"He listens very well and takes everything in," Fuqua says. "He doesn't necessarily give you an immediate answer, but he will think about what you say, and he wants to listen to a lot of people. That is critical to being a leader."

Jerry Matranga, the district's associate superintendent, says Iglesias' collaborative skills are already well respected by the board.

"We are going to see a seamless transition," Matranga says. "I am impressed with Don's enthusiasm and his realism. He has a good sense of what can work and what should wait."

Rummelhoff says Iglesias has built a strong relationship with Matranga, which will serve the new superintendent well when he turns his attention to money matters.

"He's never had responsibility for the business side before, but he's been at the table for the last two years as we've struggled over budget issues," Rummelhoff adds. "I think Don will continue to learn in that area. I don't think we're at risk at all."

As was the case with his predecessor, Iglesias is focusing on narrowing the academic-achievement gap between low-income and middle-class children.

Even with the looming budget crisis, Iglesias wants to protect what he calls the "vital few priorities": student performance; highly trained teachers; the district's financial stability; and community involvement. He also wants to push hard for a universal preschool program to give all children a solid start at academic success.

"We have to be fiscally sound, so that means we're going to have to make some tough calls, but that's OK," Iglesias says. "I'm prepared to work with staff, make recommendations and listen to the community. Ultimately, the board decides where we go with that. I want the community involved to the point of satisfaction that they have a legitimate voice, that they trust us, that they feel they want us to operate at the highest level of integrity and honesty. And, even if it takes longer to make the kind of decisions we have to make, we take the time."

The board is scheduled to discuss all of Iglesias' priorities at an upcoming retreat with the new superintendent.

"They really tie into [the district's] strategic plan,' Rummelhoff says. "We've made progress narrowing [the achievement gap], but to really be successful, we're going to have to see more happen with early childhood education."

Looking for balance

"I'm trying to keep a balance between work and play, to have healthy habits," Iglesias says. "I think we need to model that for kids and for the people who work with us. If you have a balance and are at peace with what you do, you're a better person as far as decisions that you make."

Iglesias and his wife, Cathy, who also surfs occasionally, now live in San Jose part of the time. Their daughter, Ilysa, whose name Iglesias created from the initials for "I love you," attends UC-Berkeley. She began surfing at the age of 2 and is now an avid surfer, much to the delight of her father.

"I absolutely love the sport," Iglesias says. "The connection with the ocean—it's still raw, natural, unpredictable. It's a sanctuary for me. It's tranquility and a good stress releaser."

Iglesias also "ocean paddles" on a 14-foot paddleboard, which is used to condition surfers. He can race the six miles between West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz and Capitola in about 50 minutes, and in early July came in second in a paddle race for individuals over 40 in Oahu, Hawaii.

Iglesias' frequent 12-hour workdays interfere with surfing time, so sometimes he leaves home at 5 a.m. to catch a few waves off a Santa Cruz beach.

"I need it," he says. "The adrenaline is good. It's the adrenaline of taking a risk, because the waves are unpredictable," Iglesias says. "It's great training for this job—it's the best."