The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Retiring FUHSD Superintendent Mary Panucci

Superintendent retires amid tumultuous contract dispute

Panucci leaves embittered faculty and five nationally recognized schools behind

By Katherine Petersen

Superintendent Mary Panucci hoped contract negotiations would be an issue of the past when she retired, but matters between the union and the administration are still in turmoil.

The trustees announced Panucci's intentions at the June 17 board meeting. The news came just a week after her annual evaluation and two weeks after teachers' union President George Gredassoff presented her with a "report card" littered with failing marks and demanded her resignation.

"This doesn't relate to the report card or her evaluation because we knew about it long before that," said board president Randy Okamura.

Panucci, 61, has purchased a home in Washington and said she has been planning her retirement for more than a year. Panucci had one year remaining on her contract. While she said she will miss the day-to-day interaction of working fulltime with people she enjoys, she looks forward to having the time to pursue her interests in community volunteering.

Openly welcomed by the administration, she arrived as superintendent in January 1993. Panucci said it's almost like leaving family behind.

"I'm sad in some respects, but I feel like a kid in a candy store with all the opportunities I'm going to have," she said.

During her 3 1/2-year tenure, Panucci encouraged more school-based decision-making so that each high school could best reflect the needs of its students and community, which contributes to the success at all five schools, now recognized as California Distinguished High Schools. "Each school has access to many resources and can use them in whatever way they need," Panucci said.

Yet Panucci's successes in the high school district have been spoiled by the administration's tense relationship with the teachers' union. The two sides have been negotiating a contract for more than a year, with the union throwing out sporadic threats of a strike.

Last fall most teachers quit doing work that wasn't written in their contracts, such as chaperoning club activities or helping students during lunch.

"We went into fact-finding with great hope. The fact-finder had a wonderful track record. It's sort of embarrassing when we see an outstanding school district become a spectacle," Panucci said.

Both sides are awaiting a report from the neutral fact-finder, and Panucci hopes a contract can be in place for the beginning of the school year.

The Fremont Union High School District board has chosen to conduct an internal search for a new superintendent.

"We feel that we have candidates in the district that are qualified to be superintendents elsewhere, so why not let them have the opportunity here?" Okamura said.

Officially, Panucci will retire at the end of the month, but she has agreed to stay on board until a new superintendent is chosen, which will be no later than July 29.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 25, 1997.
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