Sitting behind the desk at district headquarters, Dr. Amalia Cudeiro looks right at home as the newly elected superintendent of Bellevue schools.

Cudeiro will step into the leadership role of the Bellevue School District in July. She will travel from her current position in Portland, Oregon to Bellevue on a regular basis to work informally with the district in the months prior. Her brief visit to Bellevue today was consumed by meetings with district officials and the signing of her contract.

By late April, Cudeiro plans to make personal visits to schools throughout the district, interacting with teachers and students in the classroom setting.

“I think the beauty would be if we could become a true community of learners. To have everyone in the organization striving to become better at what they do and to learn more in their area of expertise,” she said.

Her main focus will be to listen and learn from a wide range of community groups and school organizations as well as the students who are impacted by the decisions of the district leaders.

“I want to get a very clear picture of what the strengths and challenges are (in Bellevue). I will be meeting with principals, teachers, parents, and community organizations. I want to hear first hand what the Bellevue school community as a whole identifies as the district’s strengths and where the challenges are,” she said.

To reach out to the students, Cudeiro plans to implement student focus groups at the high school level and the older grades at the elementary level.

“I’m going to be asking kids what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how they know they are doing excellent work,” she explained.

Cudeiro will relocate to the Bellevue area in July, leaving her current position as a Senior Partner at Targeted Leadership Consulting and as an Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard University Urban Superintendents Program. Her prior experience in public schools includes the role of Deputy Superintendent for the Boston Public Schools and Principal at both the Santa Monica Unified School District and the Baldwin Park Unified School District, in California. An immigrant from Cuba, she holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

“Every single district I have worked with has had an achievement gap and also had high-functioning students,” she explained. “I plan to bring those experiences, ideas, and tools that I have learned and see how they would fit this context. You can never import something fully from another district because the culture and the context is different in every place. You have to adapt your experiences and skills to the particular needs of the community,” she added.

In order to familiarize herself with the Bellevue community, Cudeiro plans to be proactive, meeting with as many different community groups and organizations as possible.

“I have already put together a list of community organizations and groups across the district in all the different communities that I will be meeting with and accessing. Hearing from people, what’s working in Bellevue for their kids and what are some of the challenges they are facing, that’s the starting point,” she said. “As the superintendent I need to get everybody’s perspective as we make plans to move forward.”

Cudeiro remains optimistic about mending the relationship between the district and the union impacted by the teacher strike in 2008. According to Cudeiro, the way to repair the severed relationship between the two sides would be to work collaboratively to identify the common ground.

“I think if we are all working towards the common purpose of students success, then all the other issues are workable,” she explained, adding, “If everyone’s focus is on meeting the needs of the students then we will be able to work out any differences.”

To find more information about Bellevue schools, visit www.bsd405.org.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@bellevuereporter.com or at 425.453.4602.