Gail Andrade Ahlas, who for a decade has served as the highly visible superintendent of Sonoma County's fastest growing school district, has announced her retirement effective at the end of the school year.
Ahlas, 60, has been superintendent of the 2,440-student Roseland School District since 2003 and is credited with spearheading the district's focus on college-readiness for some of Sonoma County's most socio-economically disadvantaged students.
Three-fifths of Roseland's students are considered English-language learners and the majority come from homes where at least one parent is not a high school graduate. More than 90 percent of Roseland's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
Still, the district has opened two schools in two years and earned national acclaim for the success of Roseland University Prep, which emphasizes college preparatory curriculum for its largely Latino student body.
In 2012, RUP was named the seventh best high school in California and 40th best in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.
"I think she has done more for the Latino youth than anyone I know in Sonoma County," said Roseland School Board member David Rosas.
"Her legacy is providing esperanza -#8212; hope," Rosas said. "Hope for young, at-risk youth with no sense of direction."
Ahlas, who will turn 61 in April, announced her retirement Wednesday at a special meeting of the school board.
Started in the district in 1994 as principal of Sheppard Elementary School. She was named superintendent in 2003 and her annual salary is approximately $161,000.
"I have been thinking about it for a couple of years," she said. "When is the right time? When you get to 60, you start thinking ahead," she said.
Of Sonoma County's 40 superintendents, only four have served longer than Ahlas.
Ahlas, who is married with two grown children, will retire at the end of the school calendar year in June. She hopes to focus on swimming, yoga, singing and is open to returning to education as a consultant, she said.
"I would be honored to. Of course it's at the board's discretion," she said. "My heart will always be in Roseland."
A search for a new superintendent is expected to get under way immediately, board members said.
"I think the people that she put in key positions will band together," Rosas said. "My only concern is that we have a high school coming up that we want to build. She was so instrumental in that. It's a daunting task; you have to be a project manager besides being a superintendent."
The district is planning a new campus for RUP's 430 students who currently are housed in a converted warehouse on Sebastopol Road.
"I'm sure we will be OK because we have great people," said veteran board member Janice Siebert, adding that the announcement took her by surprise.
"The new person is going to have to step up to the plate," she said. "That is how it works."
Ahlas's departure will not affect the lineup of the RUP advisory board, a group of politicians, academics and philanthropists formed more than a decade ago by advocate Susan Moore.
"All of those people will still be there. I don't see anybody leaving as a result of this," Moore said. "They are devoted to the children."
Amy Jones-Kerr, the inaugural principal at Roseland University Prep who was tapped to open Roseland Collegiate Prep on the former Ursuline High School campus in 2012, said there were tears when Ahlas met with administrators to announce her departure.
"She is one of the hardest working people I have ever met," she said. "She's our leader, our person who has pushed us and helped us become who we are."
"There is never going to be someone to replace Gail," she said. "I think she knows we can do it, but we have to figure it out."
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