After about a month on the job, Orange Unified School District’s interim Superintendent Edward Velasquez is leaving the post.
Velasquez took the helm of OUSD in January in a bit of a tumultuous fashion after a school board majority decided to fire Superintendent Gunn Marie Hansen during a hastily called meeting while families and staff — including Hansen — were still out on winter break.
The interim superintendent had said at the time that he expected the job to be about a two-month stint. But in an email to the OUSD community on Wednesday, Feb. 15, Velasquez said his last day will be Thursday, Feb. 16. He did not give a reason for his departure.
“It has been an honor to serve the OUSD community and our students,” Velasquez said. “The district will continue the work of providing high-quality educational programs for our students with the leadership of executive cabinet while the Board of Education begins the process of hiring a permanent superintendent.”
Velasquez is a retired Southern California superintendent who was living in Idaho when he said he got a call from school board President Rick Ledesma in early January asking if he would be able to step in as an interim superintendent. He previously told the Register that he took the job to help out, but he’s already getting a pension as a retired educator and did not want to exceed the maximum allowed before it impacts what he already receives from the state.
Velasquez has worked for several districts, including Montebello Unified and Lynwood Unified in Los Angeles County.
At the time of Hansen’s firing, the split board also placed another administrator, Cathleen Corella, on paid administrative leave pending a “curriculum and education audit.” Craig Abercrombie, the principal of Canyon High School, was picked to take over Corella’s job in the interim.
District officials could not be immediately reached for comment. The school board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is March 2.
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