Robert Gaskill has been an educator for 35 years and is currently superintendent of the Sonora Union School District in Tuolumne County. He will take the Cabrillo reins on Jan. 1. He will oversee a district that is markedly different from the predominantly white and high-scoring Sonora Union school system.
Cabrillo entered "program improvement" status this year under guidelines imposed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act and faces perennial financial challenges.
 Robert Gaskill |
"I look forward to this challenge because it's a challenge we face across the state," Gaskill said of the achievement gap between student groups that has pushed many schools into deep testing waters. He noted that before his tenure at Sonora began in 2000, he was an assistant superintendent of educational services in the Morgan Hill Unified School District and principal of Irvington High School in Fremont. He said both of those organizations were just as diverse as Cabrillo.
"That piece doesn't concern me," said Gaskill of managing Cabrillo's burgeoning population of English learners after a stint in the Sierra foothills. "I think the similarities between the two districts outweigh the differences.
"They are stand-alone communities, not connected to, or adjacent to, urban areas," he said. "You've got a coastal version and a foothill version of these very proud rural communities that are great to work in."
Irvington High School went from a cautionary accreditation to a California Distinguished School to a National Blue Ribbon School under Gaskill's leadership, according to a Cabrillo release. Cabrillo board members plucked Gaskill from a field of 23 candidates and noted he has won several professional awards.
Gaskill, 58, will receive a total compensation package of $189,000 per year at Cabrillo, a bump of more than $30,000 from his pay in Sonora. In reports from Tuolumne newspapers, Gaskill said he had planned on retiring in the next five years and was not in the job market until Cabrillo caught his eye.
"I used to come to Half Moon Bay all the time, and my wife and I have always loved it there," said Gaskill. He bought a boat at the Pillar Point Harbor about nine years ago and sailed it to Santa Cruz, where he owns a home. Gaskill is house hunting now on the Coastside, but said there may be some hour-long commutes in his immediate future.
Ken Johnson, a frequent critic of Cabrillo policies and a former school board candidate, was less than impressed with the decision to hire Gaskill. Johnson noted the contrast between Gaskill's previous district and Cabrillo, questioned the closed-session process used to hire the new chief and said that the local testing situation is dire. "This is not the turnaround specialist Cabrillo needs," he added.
w