‘I’m ready to get to work.’ Merced City School Board appoints new superintendent
The Merced City School District has finally hired a new superintendent.
After a search that took over a year, the school board officially appointed Julianna Stocking as the next superintendent during a school board meeting on Tuesday night.
The board approved the hiring of Stocking with a unanimous 5-0 vote.
“I am honored to be your next superintendent and serve Merced City Schools’ students, staffs, families and community,” said Stocking during the board meeting.
“Coming to Merced city feels like coming home for me,” Stocking added. “It feels that way because I’m a proud graduate of Livingston High School. I was raised in Merced County.”
Stocking, 47, was born and raised in Merced County, graduating from Livingston High in 1994. Her mother taught in Merced County for close to 30 years.
Stocking worked as a teacher and instructional coach in the Delhi Unified School District from 2001 until 2011. She then worked as an associate principal at Schendel/Harmony K-8 School in Delhi for a year before being promoted to principal of Schendel K-8 School from 2012 through 2015.
Since 2020, Stocking has served as the associate superintendent/Educational Services for the Tracy Unified School District.
Unanimous choice
School board president Allen Brooks is confident the district has the right leader.
“We had a 5-0 vote, our board is very confident we have found the right person...We have a plan in place where we’ll give her a six-month evaluation, another evaluation after a year so everything is not going to be put on her alone,” Brooks said. “She will know what expectations we have as a board, and we have a plan for success. It’s a team effort.”
The school district — which includes 11,500 students and about 1,400 staff and 18 schools — has been operating without a permanent leader in place since the board fired former superintendent Diana Jimenez during a special board meeting on April 25, 2023. Jimenez was terminated after less than a year serving as superintendent in the district.
Associate superintendent Brian Meisenheimer has been acting superintendent since Jimenez’s dismissal.
Jimenez was selected as superintendent after former MCSD superintendent Richard “Al” Rogers resigned on July 1, 2021, following a civil complaint filed against him alleging sexual harassment.
Challenges await
Stocking will be the fifth person to fill the role of superintendent since January of 2020.
“I think the greatest challenge is going to be the challenge they’ve had in trust and stability because of all the change they’ve had in leadership,” Stocking said. “So I hope to take my time to really get to know all the teams, the students, the families to really get to know what is working and what they’re proud of in terms of successes, and also what are some of those challenges so we can work together to address those challenges as a team.”
Stocking plans to meet with district teams early after her official start date on July 1. Once the new school years begins she’ll schedule visits to school sites and will meet with administrators, teachers, staff and other groups.
Stocking says three areas she highly values and will strive for in the district:
▪ High quality program services for students.
▪ Supporting high quality professional development and supports for staff to build capacity.
▪ Collaboration and engagement with education partners within the district and MCSD’s higher education partners in the community, including Merced College, UC Merced, the Merced County Office of Education and other community organizations.
Many district administrators, teachers and staff have been through a lot in recent years with the revolving door of superintendents. Many have complained of a lack of professionalism in the organization during that time.
Stocking says she’s aware of those concerns.
“Integrity and professionalism is vital in our organization and any public organization,” she said. “In my past experience, I have always acted in a professional manner and authentic integrity, this means transparency in decision making, this means making difficult decisions but providing the why behind them. It also means being collaborative and being able to have crucial conversations, both when we’re making decision that we agree on and also sometimes.”
“We are a public entity, so how we behave is very important,” Stocking added. “We are models to the community and to our students and so our behavior should be led with respect and authentic respect with everyone we engage with.”
Students first
Brooks said Stocking’s passion for children, her ability to implement programs, her ability to problem solve and her proven track record for longevity at her prior places all helped separate her from other superintendent candidates.
“Students have been at the center of my decision making and commitment from the day that I have started, and will continue to be every day that I come to work,” Stocking said.
Stocking’s contract with MCSD is for three years and pays $255,000 per year.
Stocking is eager to start.
“I’m looking forward to learning how we can address some of these challenges and provide some stability,” she said. “I do know that it’s going to take some time to rebuild that trust and feel confident that we’re going to have some stability, not only through this year, but hopefully years to come. I’m ready to get to work.”
