Marie Morgan, the assistant superintendent of educational services for Benicia Unified School District, is stepping up to become the new superintendent of Walnut Creek School District.

Morgan has been BUSD’s assistant superintendent since June 2013 when she succeeded Dr. Karen Dubrule as director of curriculum. Prior to that, Morgan had spent nine years as the director of instruction and staff development at San Ramon Valley Unified School District and held administrative positions at Dublin Unified School District.

Morgan is excited to start her new job as superintendent of Walnut Creek School District, where she would be succeeding retiring superintendent Dr. Patty Wool.

“I am super excited to join the Walnut Creek team,” Morgan said.

As superintendent, she would be overseeing seven schools. Five of the schools are elementary schools, one is a K-8 school and one is a middle school. The city’s high schools, Las Lomas and Northgate, are part of the Acalanes and Mount Diablo districts respectively.

Morgan has made several visits to the district and was very impressed with the level the schools were operating at.

“Walnut Creek is considered among the best (school districts),” she said. “They’re high-performing, and the number of involved families is incredible. The staff is really talented. I went on a tour with two board members last Friday of the district, and I could not have been more impressed with the staff that I met. Every school was warm and welcoming.”

Morgan was particularly impressed with what she saw in the classrooms.

“Having a background in curriculum and instruction, it’s really important to me that there’s a high level of rigor,” she said. “Together with 21st century skills in terms of kids being engaged in technology, it’s really exciting to see. When I walked through classrooms, it was so apparent and evident that these teachers have gone through an incredible amount of training and professional development.”

Morgan plans to bring her background in literacy instruction to Walnut Creek, particularly the Reading and Writing Workshop which was founded by Lucy Calkins of Columbia University’s Teachers College. The idea, which Morgan says she has been immersed in for more than 10 years, posits that students should develop skills to become avid readers and writers at a young age.

“I saw so many elements of reading/writing workshops in the classrooms,” she said. “I’d like to bring my expertise and vision of what that looks like to them and hopefully complement what they’ve already started.”

Additionally, Morgan hopes to bring her experience in technology integration in classrooms to the district as well.

“Here in Benicia, we have done an incredible amount of work of integrating technology into the classroom as a powerful teaching tool,” she said. “I hope to bring my experiences to them, and together we build a strong, rich instructional environment for our students.”

Walnut Creek’s board of trustees approved for Morgan to start her new job on July 1, which she is looking forward to.

“Everybody else is looking forward to July 1 because they get to go on a vacation,” she said. “I’m looking forward to July 1 so I can get to Walnut Creek so I can meet some of the new people and staff and families that I’m going to work for and serve for the next several years.”

Morgan says she has already seen great things in the district and hopes to take it to the next level.

“I’m excited to go to Walnut Creek and join a group of individuals and educators that are excited about education,” she said. “Right now, we couldn’t be at a more exciting time in public education. The shift to Common Core standards and the integration of technology has made education exciting. It’s taken the teacher from having to be this individual who imparts information on students to be more inquiry-based and experiential. I saw so many of those elements already in the classroom, so I’m excited to go there and join them.”

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