He's almost as proud of his new job as he is of his 12-year-old daughter. Castaniada has been appointed, under a three-year contract, the new superintendent of the Loma Prieta Joint Union School District.

Castaniada replaces former district Superintendent and Principal Mary Ellen Johnson, who retired after working in the mountainous district on Summit Road for the past five years.

"There's a lot of pioneer spirit up here," said Castaniada, on a sunny stroll across the school campus.

Castaniada joins Loma Prieta's educational team at the same time as Diana Hallock, the new principal of Loma Prieta Elementary School and C.T. English Middle School. The separation of the position of superintendent from that of principal is part of the district's transition to becoming more of a unified K­8 district.

Castaniada, 50, a single parent from San Jose, is already busy preparing for the start of school on Aug. 23, making changes to how parents will utilize the drop-off spot in the school's parking lot. He's also engaged in meeting new parents, community members, teachers and staff who he'll be communicating with regularly in the upcoming academic year.

"Because it's a school on the mountain, there are people who have invested years of voluntary service here, even once their kids have grown and gone," Castaniada said. "I truly don't believe there's any limits here. The school is truly the center of the community."

Castaniada is also looking forward to bringing his leadership and administrative experience to students and adults, after spending the past six years in three different school districts in administrative roles. Prior to that he served as principal for 17 years in the Oak Grove School District in San Jose, so he has a "vested interest" in students.

"You can work in districts where you are spending 90 percent of your time with adults," he said. "This kind of job gives me the best of both worlds."

Castaniada said he's hoping to bring the top practices in education to the district, while working closely with Hallock. Hallock comes to Loma Prieta with 18 years of educational experience in the San Lorenzo Valley, where she started out as a district librarian. She also worked as a principal in Mountain View for two years. The two administrators said their blend of energetic personalities is a "marvelous match."

Castaniada said challenges he'll face include transitions in leadership, budget projections, maximizing resources and fluctuations in enrollment. The district has an expected K­8 student body of about 535 students and another 140 students in the independent home study program.

Another obstacle Castaniada will face is major construction and renovations on campus. The voters in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties passed the $4,965,000 bond, known as Measure K, in March 2002 by more than 65 percent. The bond money will be used to build a new middle school, relocate and remodel the independent home study program, re-roof the gymnasium, retrofit the water tank and install a water-treatment system. The issue has been a source of frustration in the community, Castaniada said, given the school's location on top of earthquake faults.

District officials have needed to replace the middle school structure since Oct. 17, 1989—the date of the Loma Prieta earthquake—when classroom building slabs shifted and cracked, rendering the rooms unusable and seismically unsafe. According to the Saratoga News archives, since the 6.9-magnitude earthquake, many of the classrooms have been relocated to "temporary" portables, which are still in use today. Castaniada said district officials are looking at proceeding with constructing a new, modular building, which will meet state requirements.