Healdsburg schools superintendent may leave for similar post in Silicon Valley

Longtime Sonoma County school administrator Jeff Harding is likely leaving the North Bay for the Silicon Valley.

Harding, the superintendent of Healdsburg Unified School District since 2008, is the finalist for the same job at the larger Mountain View Los Altos High School District.

Harding, 56, declined to comment on the move until the new district ratifies the contract, which is scheduled for the May 11 board meeting.

Harding has been a fixture in North Bay schools since the 1990s, moving from a position as assistant principal in Marin County to become the founding principal in 1995 at Windsor High School, four years before the high school campus opened.

He stayed with that district through its early growth period, including a tumultuous 2004 when the superintendent was forced out, several top administrators resigned, as did a school board member, and parents and union employees protested district management.

Harding initially accepted the superintendent job in May of 2004, but declined and later became the assistant superintendent.

In 2008, Harding was named the superintendent of the Healdsburg district, which serves about 1,800 students.

Assuming the board ratifies the contract next month, Harding would take over there on July 1.

In a statement announcing Harding’s selection as the final candidate, Mountain View Los Altos High School District board President Susan Sweeley said Harding was chosen for his leadership experience and community involvement.

The district is about 15 miles north of San Jose and comprises two high schools and three ?alternative programs in Mountain View, Los Altos and?Los Altos Hills. The district serves about 3,800 students, with 96 percent of graduates moving on to college, according to the district.

Harding, a married father of four, was an honors graduate of UC Berkeley and earned a master’s in educational administration from Sonoma State University. He received a doctorate from the University of La Verne after completing a dissertation on the development of positive school culture.

You can reach Lori A. Carter ?at 521-5470 or lori.carter?@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @loriacarter