SAN GABRIEL, CA – San Gabriel Unified School District has selected Jim Symonds to serve as assistant superintendent of educational services, starting in 2019-20. Symonds, who has served as McKinley Elementary’s principal in San Gabriel Unified since 2014, brings more than 29 years of public education experience to his new role.

“I have found my home in San Gabriel Unified, and I am honored to be able to take on this new role,” Symonds said. “There are amazing things happening in this District, and I want to build on that positive culture and celebrate the accomplishments of our students, teachers and staff.”

Symonds was approved by the SGUSD Governing Board during its March 12 meeting.

Symonds holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Humboldt State University, a Master of Arts in Education from the University of La Verne and administrative credentials from Cal State San Bernardino.

He taught in public schools for 15 years and has served in administrative roles for the past 14 years. Symonds is also a senior adjunct faculty member at the University of La Verne and has taught in the School of Education and Organizational Leadership for 11 years.

As principal at McKinley Elementary, Symonds facilitated the implementation of a Spanish dual-language immersion program, creation of a coding and robotics program, fully equipped STEM lab and STEM teaching position, and rollout of a 1:1 student-to-tech device plan.

Symonds was selected from a pool of 45 candidates after an extensive application and screening process that included preliminary interviews before two panels, a writing sample and final interviews.