State Superintendent Tom Torlakson has sent Inglewood Unified (IUSD) yet another state administrator for our schools. Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana has been chosen as our sixth administrator. She is also the FIRST Latino to ever lead the district in its history.
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Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana currently serves as a Board Trustee of the Cal State system and began her career as a bi-lingual first grade teacher. She helped to develop the Blueprint for Reform and led the office as it administered billions of dollars in grant funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Ms. de Santa Ana is reported to have left the Pomona Unified School District to work in the Obama Administration.
Upon leaving, she become superintendent of Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) in 2011 where she lasted less than two years. During her time in Santa Ana, Melendez was criticized by the Santa Ana Educators’ Association for her handling of teacher-related issues.
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She abruptly retired from SAUSD in 2013 citing “need to spend time with her family” but instead took a job as education advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
In 2014 former LAUSD superintendent John Deasey brought on Ms. de Santa Ana to lead after school programs, after a stint in the Obama Administration. It was widely speculated she would be Deasey’s predecessor. Deasey would retire in the latter part of 2014 after a scandal surrounding iPads surfaced.
It appears as though Ms. de Santa Ana has a history of working with children, then leaving when a higher profile opportunity comes her way.
Welcome aboard Ms. de Santa Ana. 2 Urban Girls hopes you stay awhile.
