Dr. Amalia Cudeiro spoke to a room full of parents and community members during the last of three public forums highlighting the three finalists interviewing for the Superintendent’s position for the Bellevue School District.
Cudeiro is presently a Senior Partner at Targeted Leadership Consulting and was previously the 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.
She was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States as a young child. Growing up in New York, her parents taught her the valuable lesson of education.
She has since used those life lessons and applied them to her career in education.
“My personal history guides my values and beliefs when it comes to education,” Cudeiro explained while introducing herself to the community.
She credited her own personal academic success to having access to a rigorous and challenging curriculum, teachers, principals and adults who pushed her to do her best, and parents who had extremely high expectations of her.
“Bellevue embodies those three elements; a challenging curriculum, committed teachers and parents,” she said. “For me, that’s my connection with Bellevue. It aligns with my values and beliefs.”
Cudeiro has been the Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard University Urban Superintendents Program and received her Ph.D. from Harvard University.
“It’s very hard working at the school level, the district level or at any other level for that matter,” she explained, “But it is the belief that we make a difference to the kids that makes it worth it. I can’t even envision doing anything else then what I do. Every since I was young I have had a passion for teaching others,” she added.
During the public forum, Cudeiro answered 14 questions covering the areas of common curriculum, leadership style, the achievement gap and others. The questions were gathered from input given by the Bellevue Schools Foundation, staff meetings, and the PTA. All three superintendent candidates were given the opportunity to answer the same 14 questions during the public forums.
Cudeiro spoke candidly on the topic of a common curriculum and the use of assessments.
She began by celebrating the district’s success of implementing a common curriculum.
“I want to commend the teachers for the amazing job they’ve done with aligning the curriculum,” she said, adding, “It might not be perfect. It might need some tweaking, but it is in place and that is impressive.”
Cudeiro strongly supports common curriculum in schools, but points out the importance of modification to lesson plans and teaching styles to meet every kid’s needs.
“Kids don’t come in neat little boxes with the same knowledge and experience to our schools,” she said. “We need to individually address their needs, skills and abilities. It’s not a one size fits all.”
She drew on past professional experience to illustrate her point.
As a principal in the California schools, the majority of the students spoke English as a second language and were of a low socio-economic level. When she first took on the job, only 20 percent of the students met the academic standard required of them. Four years later when she left, the number of students who met the level of academic standards had risen to 65 percent.
She placed an emphasis on parent engagement and the importance of reaching out to the community, not always expecting them to come to the schools.
“Parents are the partners and without parents’ support, we wont to be able to meet our goal of providing every child with the opportunity to be college bound,” she added.
The community forum is available for viewing on the Bellevue School District Web site.
To participate in an online survey about the candidates, visit www.bsd405.org.
The School Board hopes to select a superintendent in the next three weeks.
Questions from the Bellevue Reporter
Reporter: What has been the best part about your interview process in Bellevue?
Cudeiro: The best part of being here today was seeing how my values and beliefs align so perfectly with this school district. The board did an amazing job setting putting this together today.
Reporter: What was your favorite subject in school?
Cudeiro: I loved literature and reading. Not the classics (she laughed) but just about everything else.
Reporter: What was your favorite year in school?
Cudeiro: Third grade was my favorite because I had an amazing teacher. Actually she was a very tough teacher but amazing all the same.
Reporter: What is one thing Bellevue doesn’t know about you?
Cudeiro: My husband and I are into sailing. I actually lived on a sailboat for an entire year. I have to say this is a beautiful place for sailing and a big draw for coming to this area.
Lindsay Larin can be contacted at 425.453.4602.
