CUSD Hires Joseph Farley; Background Cited

   Last night the Capo Board of Trustees voted 6-0 to hire Joseph Farley to a four year contract as Superintendent.

Dr. Joseph Farley

   CUSD released additional information about the new leader of the Capistrano Unified School District, saying Dr. Farley is credited with resolving significant instructional, fiscal, and public relations issues during his five years as Superintendent of the Anaheim Union High School District. Farley took the helm in Anaheim after there had been three superintendents during the preceding three years. Public confidence in AUHSD, and a $257 million construction project was in the red. A few weeks after he started, the Orange County Grand Jury announced its intent to investigate the district’s bond funding and oversight of bond-funded construction. After his first year on the job, the Grand Jury cited AUHSD’s work as a model for other school systems to emulate.

   Representatives from the California Teachers Association consider him as a good match for the job of helping Capistrano schools move forward. “Capistrano has hired a marvelous Superintendent,” said Mr. George Woods, Executive Director of Teachers United, which provides support to the Anaheim Secondary Teachers Association and six other local teacher unions. “He is a visionary Superintendent. He changed many practices in the AUHSD and literally transformed it, even during this budget crisis. The people in Capistrano now have the chance to recover from what’s happened there, and they hired the right person to help them do that.”

   “Joe Farley is a collaborative and transparent leader who has done an incredible job in Anaheim,” said Mr. William H. Habermehl, Orange County Superintendent of Schools.

   Dr. Farley was Deputy Superintendent in the Oceanside Unified School District for nearly a decade, where he and Superintendent Kenneth A. Noonan helped transform that school system from one of San Diego County’s lowest performing to one of the most respected. Mr. Noonan, who was subsequently appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the State Board of Education, described Dr. Farley as one of the state’s most talented education leaders.

   “Dr. Farley has provided strong leadership over the past five years, during very difficult times,” said AUHSD Board President Brian O’Neal. “I know he will continue to be an outstanding leader in his new role at Capistrano Unified.” 

   More about Dr. Farley:

• Bachelor of Arts degree, with a double major in journalism and Spanish, from La Verne College. 
• Master’s degree in educational administration from San Diego State University, an education specialist degree from Point Loma College, and a doctorate in educational leadership, with an emphasis on research, evaluation, and statistics, from Northern Arizona University. 
• Attended the University of Spain in Valencia, Spain, where all of his courses were conducted in Spanish.
• Worked his way through” undergraduate school while working as a newspaper reporter for the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Pomona Progress Bulletin, where he covered city government and education. He subsequently became a high school journalism and English teacher.
• Held virtually every position from classroom teacher to superintendent, having served as teacher, director, coordinator, assistant superintendent for instruction, assistant superintendent for human resources, deputy superintendent, and superintendent.
• Adjunct professor for many years at San Diego State University and California State University, San Marcos, teaching graduate level courses in educational leadership, school law, and personnel management for students who were completing this coursework for administrative credentials.

   “I am so proud of our choice of a great educational leader who will make certain that policies are followed, and re-create a true education environment where young children grow into their intellects and the focus is on preparing them for life.” said CUSD Board President Anna Bryson.