UNION CITY – The current Union City Superintendent of Schools, Silvia Abbato, is among a number of candidates being considered to become superintendent of schools for the Los Angeles, California Unified School District, the nation’s second largest.
The L.A. Unified school board, with a 700,000 K-12 student population, hired an executive search firm in September to find candidates to replace the current superintendent, who wants to retire by the end of the year, according to the Los Angeles Times. Union City’s student population numbers a little over 14,000.
The candidates were assembled by two Los Angeles Times reporters, who said they interviewed “insiders, civic leaders and experts” and compiled a list of 43 candidates. Abbato “fits the profile of an educator from a smaller district who is credited with making the sort of progress sought in L.A. Unified,” according to the newspaper’s analysis, as reported by NJ Advance Media.
“The reporter called me last week,” Abbato told NJ.com on Thursday, a day after a report listed her alongside 42 other candidates. “They were offering the school board a list of candidates that would be perfect for the school district.”
Abbato has served on many state education committees and was previously a commissioner on Gov. James Mc Greevey’s Education Mandate Commission and Gov. Christopher Christie’s Achievement Gap Task Force.
Three decades of service
Abbato was born and raised in Union City. She has worked in the Union City school district for the past 34 years.
She received her master’s in urban education at New Jersey City University. Over her career she rose through the ranks, starting as an ESL and gifted and talented teacher. She became the district’s first female and Hispanic superintendent two years ago.
Abbato has a “medium chance” of getting the job, according to the Los Angeles Times, the same odds as former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.