BY AMANDA MARTINEZ // Retired for almost two years, former superintendent of Dublin John Sugiyama received an unexpected phone call from the Alameda County Office of Education, asking him if he would come back. “They informed me that Emery may be in need of an interim superintendent and asked if I would be interested in being considered for the position,” he said.

In early September, the Emeryville school district found itself suddenly without a superintendent following the abrupt departure of Stephen Wesley, who stepped down after it was discovered his resume was filled with phony credentials.

By October 1, the school board had come to a unanimous decision to hire John Sugiyama during a closed session.

Sugiyama is new to the Emery school district but he is no stranger to the Bay Area. After attending schools in San Francisco and Berkeley, Sugiyama made Northern California his home base, working in Alameda, Pleasanton and Dublin school districts throughout his 35 years in education.

With a wide range of experience on his side Sugiyama says he has “hit the ground running.” Now, one month into the job InEmeryville staff talks to John Sugiyama about coming out of retirement, what he will do for the school community, and how joining the Emery School district is like coming home.

How did you make the decision to come back to work?

Before I said yes I did research on the district. Even though I had worked in Alameda County in public education for 35 years, Emery is a small city and isn’t a district that people typically know a lot about. I found a lot of exciting things going on here. There is an incredible vision for schools to be center to community life. I agree that schools should strive to bring community together and offer resources.

What do you want to accomplish during your time as superintendent?

The board has established goals for the person in the [superintendent] position, in essence they are the district goals for this year, so I will continue to work with staff in the direction of achieving those goals.

Specifically I am looking forward to following through on the board’s expectation is to find ways to create greater parent involvement. That is one of the major goals.

Beyond the standard list of board goals what skills and expertise can you bring to the district?

I will work with staff to create standardized policies and procedures. In smaller districts a lot of things are done informally, but state accountability requires school districts to create accountability and consistency in procedures. I will work with staff to develop their internal systems to clearly define how the school district conducts their business in certain aspects of their operation.

How will you get to know the community?

Informally the door is always open to my office so anytime parents want to come by with an issue or concern they are welcome.

Formally beginning in November, I will be meeting with a group of parents on a monthly basis who represent the range of the school community to provide a vehicle for parents to have voice in what is happening in the school district.

We hope to launch a new school district website that will launch by January 5. The website will be an important vehicle for being able to communicate with the community. The idea is to create a website that is very user friendly where parents can access information about the school district.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born and raised in San Francisco after World War II when my parents came back from being interned. I grew up in a very ethnically diverse neighborhood and my values I developed were based upon the importance of all segments of the community getting along and living and working together in a cooperative way. I really feel comfortable here. Emeryville as a city is very much like how I remember growing up. It is a very diverse community culturally in terms of ethnicity and also in terms of the interface of the business community. I really feel at home here in many ways. In some ways it is like coming home.

Being of Japanese American decent I found particularly in the late ’50s that there was still a lot of discrimination that I certainly felt as a child growing up. Now it is very compelling to be working a district that’s guiding principles states a dedication to embracing diversity.

What is it like coming out of retirement?

When you’re retired people think you have this life of leisure, but actually I was probably just as busy in a different way. In fact the hardest part of coming back to work is not the long hours or the hour commute I make from Danville, it is wearing a tie everyday.

John Sugiyama will not apply for the permanent superintendent position, but says he will stay until the end of the school year. The school board has announced it will begin discussions in the next few months on what process they will use to select a permanent superintendent.