NEW SUPERINTENDENT NAMED and Interim Middle School Principal Selected

January 10, 2003

Your Board of Trustees of the Larkspur School District is pleased to announce the appointment of Hall Middle School Principal, Bob Cone, as the new Superintendent of the Larkspur School District. Mr. Cone will assume his duties on January 13, 2003. Marilyn Dineen, Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher, will be the Interim Principal to replace Mr. Cone at Hall Middle School.

One of the most important responsibilities that the Board of Trustees must carry out is the hiring of the Chief Executive Officer for our District. In Bob Cone, we have found someone who knows our District and community and has earned our respect. He has demonstrated expertise in curriculum and school management, a commitment to parent and staff collaboration and input, and, most of all, a love for kids with a belief that their education is the most important work in the world.

Mr. Cone has taught the 5th and 6th grades. He served as a vice principal and principal in several schools in the East Bay before coming to Hall in 1994. Under his leadership, Hall Middle School was named a California Distinguished School in 1996 and a National Blue Ribbon School in 1998. Bob and his wife, Dr. Joan Cone (who teaches Advanced Placement English at El Cerrito High School and whom Bob calls, “Dr. J”), live in Point Richmond. They have one son and a daughter from China.

At the beginning of the process of selecting a new superintendent, the Board identified Bob Cone as a leading candidate for the position. Yet, the Board felt it had an obligation to also consider other possibilities so that if Mr. Cone were selected, it would clearly be because he was the Board’s first choice. The process that led to the final selection of Mr. Cone involved contacting several other districts—Kentfield, Reed, and Mill Valley—to see if there were any interest in sharing a superintendent. No interest existed. Several discussions were held with search firms. The Board decided that the $20,000 cost of the search was not prudent in light of the firms’ discouraging feedback regarding the quality and availability of superintendent candidates for our District. The Board then held meetings and distributed a questionnaire to gather input from parents, staff, and community on the qualities needed in a superintendent. It became very apparent that Bob Cone was the person who possessed the qualities being sought and who shared the Board’s vision, goals, and commitment to excellence for our District.

Once Mr. Cone was selected, an additional consideration for the Board was the task of replacing Mr. Cone as Principal at Hall Middle School in the middle of the year. Marilyn Dineen, who has been in our District for nine years as a highly respected and valued teacher, was selected as Interim Principal. Ms. Dineen knows Hall Middle School and she had also been a principal for four years before coming to Hall.

We ask the parents, staff, and community to join us in our enthusiastic welcome of Bob Cone to his new position of Superintendent of the Larkspur School District and Marilyn Dineen as the Interim Principal at Hall Middle School.

PLEASE NOTE: Superintendent Cone will be attending the Neil Cummins PTA meeting on Wednesday, January 15, 2003, at 6:30pm. On the same day at 3:45pm, he will be meeting with the Neil Cummins School Site Council. If you have not had a chance to meet him, please take one of these two opportunities to do so.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES