SHIRLEY KIMBERLIN Everything I list turns to SOLD! 805-886-0228 skimberlin@aol.com
This week’s listings on the back page
Interim Fire Chief takes the helm
BOYD
Micheline Miglis, new CUSD superintendent, is excited to bring more school-grown produce into the district’s food program.
New supe swoops into CUSD BY LEA BOYD
Attracting, recruiting, hiring and retaining the most “studentcentered staff” possible is a goal that Miglis says she shares with the union.
Carpinteria Unified School District’s new superintendent, Micheline Miglis, is spending her first 100 days on the payroll getting to know the people who matter to her new district. It’s a huge undertaking given that for Miglis everyone matters. She’s meeting with teachers and principals, members of the board of education and city officials, law enforcement and parents from morning to evening all summer long. When Miglis sat down with this community newspaper editor, she did a lot of talking, but she emphasized that most of what she’s been doing is listening. Administrative paperwork is piling up, she said, but her priority is to develop relationships and get a 360-degree view of CUSD—its strengths and weaknesses. Miglis entered the scene at a unique point in the district’s history. Last winter, then Superintendent Paul Cordeiro accepted a position at another district after nearly a decade on the job. He left a legacy of enormous accomplishments—the passage of a $90 million school bond measure, construction of a state-of-the-art
A new era for CarpinteriaSummerland Fire Protection District began this week with the pinning of Interim Fire Chief Jim Rampton at the Walnut Avenue fire station on Aug. 3. Rampton was appointed by the fire board to take the reins of the district when Chief Mike Mingee left before the close of his contract as part of a settlement for a lawsuit filed by a group of past and present firefighters. In a letter to staff, board President Chris Johnson said, “(Rampton) is well respected by both the floor and administration. This makes him uniquely qualified to lead us through this exciting and tumultuous time. The board felt that he was the best choice to help us begin the process of rebuilding relationships in this department. We believe he has the experience and temperate personality to take us in the right direction.” Rampton was hired by the district as a Battalion Chief in May of 2013. He began his career in 1986 and has served with several fire departments. Before coming SUBMITTED PHOTO to CSFPD, he retired as the President of the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District Fire Chief of the South Davis Board of Directors Chris Johnson pins Interim Fire Chief Jim MetroFire Agency in Utah. Rampton is a third genera- Rampton with his new badge. as how to fund a new station to replace the nearly tion firefighter with a family century-old Summerland station. One of Rampton’s history of over 90 years in the fire service. first steps as chief be to help the district contract with The district is facing several questions about its a company to perform a comprehensive standards future, and hiring a permanent chief will wait until of coverage analysis, which will guide the board’s the board has clarified a path for CSFPD. Consolidanext steps. tion with other agencies is being considered as well kitchen at Carpinteria High School and creation of Carpinteria Children’s Project—but he certainly had his critics. Fingers pointed to Cordeiro for cuts to CHS’s award-winning agriculture program, and he landed in constant clashes with the teachers union. The Miglis chapter begins with a lot of cautious optimism. She has a long list of major construction projects to complete and the bond funding to check them off one by one. Declining enrollment, which has plagued CUSD for over a decade, seems to have bottomed out, and the state’s flush coffers are spilling into the district. When school board President Andy Sheaffer introduced Miglis at a June board meeting, he nearly swooned over the new hire. “I’m so excited,” he said
to Miglis, “because your charm and your energy and your personality are going to go so far in our district.” If Paul Cordeiro was a feather ruffler, Miglis is a feather smoother. She mentions her gratitude often and says that she expects the best in everyone. As a rule, she told CVN, she enters situations with an open mind and forms opinions based on input from all sides. She talks about the importance of empathy and aims to “create a stronger community where we lift each other up.” She developed her set of rules to live by while growing up in Ventura to a family of Greek immigrants,
See SUPERINTENDENT continued on page 3