Benicia schools superintendent to step down at end of semester

After 41 years in the education field and eight years as superintendent of Benicia Unified School District, Janice Adams has announced she is retiring in June.

“My husband, Peter, retired four years ago,” she said Friday, saying the couple wants to spend more time together. “And I’m 63 — I’m ready for another chapter!”

Adams started her career as a teacher 21 years ago, focusing in particular on special education children and instructing in Tokyo, Japan, where she taught third through fifth grades.

She also taught in Tucson, Ariz., and in Redwood City before coming to Benicia, teaching at the former Mills Elementary School before becoming a vice principal in Fairfield and returning as Robert Semple Elementary School’s principal.

Adams was at Semple when Mills — where her children Meredith, Sean and Sam had attended — was closed. “That was a major shift in the community,” she said. Elementary school boundaries were redrawn, and the loss affected many in Benicia.

“It was a sad day,” she said. “It was a hard time. I loved that school.”

That loss was assuaged with the renovation and rebirth of the Mills building as the Benicia Community Center. “It’s good to see the beautiful community center,” she said.

Adams was chosen as superintendent eight years ago, succeeding Kimberly Dennis. She initially had the job on an interim basis before securing it permanently as she established her own relationship with the district’s Governing Board of Trustees and the rest of the school system.

“It’s a complex position,” she said. “You want to focus on what’s best for the children.”

Adams also found that she would be learning as she went. While she had administrative experience as a principal, superintendent is a bigger job, she said, full of state requirements and education mandates and dealing with an elected board — a group of individuals with their own ideas and goals when i comes to education — as well as city and county officials.

Among those with whom she works is Benicia Police Department, which assigns School Resource Officers (SROs) to Benicia Middle and High schools.

“Janice has been instrumental to the continued success of the School Resource Officer Program,” Lt. Mike Greene said Friday. “She has worked closely with police personnel to ensure the safety of students and maintain the focus on a positive learning environment.”

Greene praised Adams for her “commitment to training,” and said her “immediate responses to school-related incidents has been appreciated.

“It is evident through her actions that she cares not only about BUSD students and parents, but also BUSD staff. Having open lines of communication between the superintendent and the police department is a benefit to everyone in our school system.”

Greene added, “Janice will be missed, but we wish her a happy retirement and thank her for her support throughout her career.”

Adams deflected the praise and shared the credit with others in the district. “I am lucky I work with an amazing staff,” she said.

The road hasn’t always been smooth. In fact, two years into her administration, the recession struck with full force.

“We had 20 percent less revenue,” she said. She said she and others in the district strived to maintain the schools’ historic reputation for excellence and to protect children from realizing how deeply the district was being impacted by a recession second only to the Great Depression.

In the end, “We did a good job,” she said.

In fact, the condition of the district is one of the reasons Adams said she feels comfortable stepping away from her position at the end of the school year.

“I am proud of the relationship we have with the city,” she said, calling it an excellent, collaborative relationship. “The city supported us with the bond campaign. The Liaison Committee serves our common goals. It’s productive.”

She also has been the BUSD ex-officio member of the Community Sustainability Commission, which “has supported our efforts for education in schools,” she said.

In addition, that panel has a permanent spot for a student to be an active, voting participant. Emmalyn Tringali was the first Benicia High School student to be appointed, and the tradition continued with her successor, Leanza Tupfer, and the current representative, Anavi Subramanyam, who has begun her second term on the panel.

“There is nothing more rewarding that to see kids in that kind of role,” Adams said. She said students are pressing the school to install solar panels, too. “This is extremely rewarding. It makes me hopeful for the future.”

One of the largest changes Adams said she has seen in students during her career is the dramatic growth of what she and others call “digital natives” — those who have grown up savvy in the technological world.

They have access to information on their cell phones that exceeds the volumes of resources Adams had while attending college. But, she said, students need training and guidance in using that vast amount of information, particularly in discerning what is factual, what is unbiased and what is speculation and opinion-based.

“Are they creditable sources?” she said students need to ask. “Not all information is equal. We teach kids to be critical readers.”

It’s also a challenge for teachers, Adams said.

“We definitely have teachers on the cutting edge,” she said. But teachers can’t merely spout information anymore. “They’ve got to engage in meaningful ways,” she said.

Adams said she knows she will retire in June, but she is flexible in accommodating the search for her own successor.

The school district is in the process of choosing a team that will lead that search, she said, and she made clear that she wants to be available so the leadership transition is smooth.

But she also is looking forward to retirement.

“There are so many things I don’t do because I work.” Among them is a long list of projects she has promised herself she’ll finish.

But there are other goals on the horizon, too. “There are so many things I am interested in, things I like to explore.”

And exploring is a top priority, once she concludes her education career. One goal she and her husband have is visiting every national park, particularly since they enjoy hiking.

Having been to most of the West Coast parks, the couple has set their sights on other areas of the country. “I want to go east and see the leaves in autumn,” Adams said.