Rincon Valley Union Superintendent announces departure to be closer to Novato home

Superintendent Tracy Smith, who has led the Rincon Valley Union School District since 2019, has been selected as the Superintendent of the Novato Unified School District and will start on July 1, she announced Friday.

Parents and staff at Rincon Valley received a letter from Smith Friday morning announcing her departure. Smith lives in Novato and wants to be closer to her home and family.

The northeastern Santa Rosa school district has about 3,200 students enrolled, according to the district.

“It was a very emotional, hard decision ― hard to leave such a fantastic district, but it’s been a pleasure to serve the community through these very difficult, trying four years, and it’s just time for me to be closer to home for my family,” Smith said,

An educator for 30 years, Smith worked in four local school districts from kindergarten through eighth grade as a bilingual teacher, grant coordinator, principal and assistant superintendent.

Smith lives with her husband, Rob, and her daughters, one of whom is in high school and the other in college.

“My job now is making sure I can make it as smooth of a transition for the next superintendent,” she said.

The board will begin searching immediately to find the best candidate possible, Smith said.

Janelle Taylor, president of the board of trustees, said she was disappointed to see Smith go.

She called Smith “a caring and impactful leader for Rincon Valley,” adding that “we are saddened to see her go. … We aim to find another leader who shows as much care for their community as Dr. Smith has shown to ours.”

“It’s been a pleasure to serve such a wonderful community,” Smith said. “Through fires, power shutdowns, pandemic, another fire, I know together as a community we did everything we could to keep the kids at the center of our decisions, balancing the needs of the community at the same time.”

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story did not include the number of charter school students enrolled in the total enrollment.

You can reach Staff Writer Alana Minkler at 707-526-8531 or alana.minkler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @alana_minkler.