Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Walking in own shoes: Mary Ellen Lewis

Loma Prieta superintendent calls her new job a 'fantasy'

By Michelle Alaimo

Don't ask Mary Ellen Lewis what it's like to be filling former superintendent and principal Lee Tinder's shoes. The new superintendent of the Loma Prieta Joint Union School District and principal of Loma Prieta Elementary School will tell you only one thing.

"I'm walking in my own shoes," she says.

Lewis took the helm of the district and the school on July 1, and she is enjoying her "fantasy" job. She replaces Tinder, who resigned effective June 30 when his contract wasn't renewed.

Lewis is looking forward to her first supertintendent's job. Rick Parfitt, president of the district's board of trustees, says Lewis was hired after a statewide search and was offered the job in late May. He added that it is not unusual for a small district to hire a principal who wants to be superintendent.

The Northern Minnesota native says she has not made any specific plans for what she wants to do in the district and school yet. But her philosophy is "what's best for the kids." Lewis wants to set up a system to take the district into the next century whereby teachers, staff and parents all plan what to do together.

"When you work together with people, the ideas that come forth are much greater than one person," Lewis says.

Lewis' former superintendent, David Long of the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, says, "She has the innate ability to step back and see things in a global fashion."

Lewis has a long history of working closely with the community. She served as principal of Machado Elementary School in the Lake Elsinore School District in Southern California from 1991 until June 1998. Lewis says Machado Elementary School is in a higher-crime area than the surrounding schools in her previous district. She added that many times, more than 200 law-enforcement officers would come in and perform a "crime sweep." Children of those arrested were sent to her school as a place to stay while Lewis and social services staff contacted the child's relatives. She received several awards for her help in the community, including the "S.W.A.T. Team" Award and "Mid-Year Hero" Award. While Lewis is aware that this type of service will not be needed in her new district, she is looking forward to finding ways to serve her new community.

"She is very willing to take risks and try new things," Long says of Lewis. "She is creative and innovative."

Lewis is also known for her extremely positive people skills and for helping teachers, Long says.

The divorced mom of one says she enjoys "helping teachers work smarter and not harder." She explained she does this by helping teachers see how they can affect the greatest number of students. She says she also enjoys "helping people find ways to become leaders and to foster their own personal growth."

Lewis is also interested in her own personal growth. Not only has she accomplished moving up from the principal to superintendent position and moving to Northern California, a place she has always wanted to live, she is also going to school to get her doctorate in education management. She is taking classes through the University of LaVerne. She also has a master's in administration from UCLA, as well as a bachelor's degree in English.

The "teacher at heart" worked as a teacher in Southern California from 1974 to 1987. She then spent a year working as a high school instructional-strategies coach with the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District in Norwalk, Calif. After that she landed an assistant principal job in the Lake Elsinore School District, where she also worked for one year as an administrator in Long's office.

However, Lewis shouldn't get too comfortable in her role as both superintendent and principal of the Loma Prieta district. Parfitt says the board is looking into having Lorrie Wernick act as principal for both of the district's schools while Lewis acts as district superintendent. He added that the board commissioned an administrative audit in late March, which suggested one principal for both schools. The board is now going to work with staff and parents by holding hearings and study sessions over the next year to determine if this is the best move for the district.

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