By: Katie Lulla
Dr. Suzane Webb was appointed as the new Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in the Manhattan Beach District School Board meeting on November 20. She began work on December 1.
Webb replaced Dr. Brian Lucas who is now the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources at Lynwood Unified School District. She previously worked in the Santa Monica-Malibu School District for 23 years.
“Dr. Webb has [a] unique combination of four years of HR experience and school leadership experience,” said Dr. Matthews the Superintendent. “[She] will be a strong member of our team.”
In her administrative career, Webb started as the Program Facilitator in Educational Services. She then took on a range of positions from the District Coordinator for New Teachers, to being the Principal of Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica. In her last four years, she served as the Director of Human Resources.
“I feel that I am ready to move up to the next level, especially because I have experience being a principal and assistant principal and understand master scheduling and staffing,” said Dr. Webb. “Being part of a site leadership team has allowed me the privilege of understanding how important our work is. [Students] are the reason we all are here and we must align our work with [their] needs.”
From the beginning of her career, Webb has worked for the wellbeing of students and staff. Her dissertation for her doctoral degree was based on resilience and coping methods to reduce stress. She has found in her research the work-life balance needed to support a social-emotional mindset. This aligns with the social-emotional wellness goals the district has been working on for the past several years.
“I look forward to building upon the work that MBUSD has done around social-emotional intelligence. I’m passionate about excellence through equity and helping others to meet their greatest potential,” said Webb.
She says equity through excellence is something to which we must always strive to attain. She believes the district should get to know each individual staff member and student to understand their strengths as well as areas of [needed] growth so that they can best support those efforts. Her main focus has been to provide training and support to administrators to best meet the needs of students and staff.
“I find that as Human Resources, I am most supportive to staff,” said Webb. “How I respond to the needs/requests of our staff will allow them to best serve our students.”
In addition to being the Director of Human Resources, she also served as a Tier II Administrative Credential Coach for the University of California, Irvine. She helped site administrators create goals in which to meet to best support their students, teachers, and communities. Her instruction also extends to other Universities.
“I am an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University [where I]
teach a course for doctoral students called “Building a Culture of Professional Learning Communities,” said Webb.
She co-taught with Dr. Irene Gonzalez-Castillo who is the new Assistant Superintendent of Student Services. The course studied ways in which leaders can support a “growth mindset” to improve organizations.
“We went through a process,” said Dr.Matthews. “We had some upstanding candidates for the job, but Dr. Webb emerged as the clear candidate”
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