Pamela Martens, Ph.D., new school chief for Sonoma Valley
The trustees of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District met Sunday and made official their selection of Pamela Martens, Ph.D., as our new superintendent. She comes from the Coast Unified School District in Cambria, where she has been the superintendent for the last 11 years, as well as the principal of the Coast Union High School until last year.
An unincorporated town of about 6,200 people, Cambria is located on Highway 1 near San Simeon, about 30 miles north of San Luis Obispo. Coast Unified has one K-5 elementary school, one 6-8 middle school, and one high school, with enrollments last year of 336, 180, and 316 students, respectively, for a total of 832 students, plus another 30 students in continuation/community day schools. Enrollment in Sonoma’s ten schools is about 4,800 students. The state revenue limit for Coast is, at $8,641 per student, about 39 percent higher than the $6,230 per student that Sonoma receives.
Sonoma school board president Cam Hawing noted that Martens “had done her homework on Sonoma,” impressing interviewers by her familiarity with our local schools and administrators. Before the offer was formally made, a group of six from Sonoma, including staff, parents, and trustee Dan Gustafson, visited Cambria last week, to confirm their positive impressions. Similarities to Sonoma include the importance of agriculture in the Cambria area, the declining enrollment over the last 10 years, and the large percentage of English Language Learners in the schools.
Martens is due to start in Sonoma on July 1, following the retirement June 30 of present superintendent Barbara Young. Prior to her service in Cambria, Martens, who speaks Spanish, had served as Assistant Superintendent of Instruction in the Ojai Unified School District, which has about 3,200 students, and in other positions also in Ventura County.
Hawing expressed his excitement that the trustees were successful in bringing Martens to Sonoma Valley, noting the possible competition with other districts in Northern California also seeking new superintendents, including Ft. Bragg and Healdsburg.
