Jonathan Raymond is Superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District, California’s 11th largest school district (47,000 students) located in the heart of the state capital. Since his appointment in July 2009, Raymond has accomplished several objectives of the district’s Strategic Plan 2010-14: Putting Children First, including: the creation of seven Superintendent’s Priority Schools to offer extra assistance to the district’s most academically troubled campuses; the implementation of Early Kinder, a two-year transitional kindergarten program aimed at ending the cycle of “start behind, stay behind,”; the development of Chinese and Hmong language immersion programs; the expansion of high school Linked Learning academies to provide college and career bound students with real-world experiences; a phased-in implementation of Common Core Standards to add rigor and relevance to curriculum; and the historic adoption of the “Sacramento High Performing Schools Compact,” a commitment to improving Sacramento’s educational climate signed by the district and charter school providers and supported by the Gates Foundation. In addition, under Raymond’s leadership the district became the first on the West Coast to be awarded a fully funded Green Fellow from the US Green Building Council, a position critical to ensuring the environmental sustainability of SCUSD’s 81 campuses. Prior to his appointment, Raymond, a graduate of Tufts University, George Mason Law School and the Broad Superintendents Academy, served as Chief Accountability Officer for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Raymond’s extensive experience extends beyond education: He was president and CEO of the non-profit, Boston-based Commonwealth Corporation; a deputy director in the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Workforce Development; and a private practice attorney specializing in business and labor law.
