Whittier

Supt. Rudy Valdez is resigning as chief of the South Whittier School District at the end of the school year.

Valdez, 60, has been the district’s top administrator since June, 1981. He told trustees he is retiring to pursue other interests, including college teaching and candidacy for the Whittier Union High School District board of trustees next November. Valdez’s contract does not expire until June, 1987. His resignation is effective June 30, 1985.

“I’ve been in education since 1959 and there are some other things I want to do now,” said Valdez, whose wife, Josefina, is a teacher in the South Whittier district. “But like an old war horse, I can’t leave it completely. . . .”

Valdez, who was mayor of Norwalk in 1972-73, was instrumental in pulling the elementary district out of serious financial trouble in 1983. School officials were faced with bankruptcy when an audit of district books discovered an $800,000 debt. But a $415,000 emergency loan from the state and more than $1 million in budget cuts last year solved the crisis.

Meanwhile, Henri Pellissier, a 12-year member of the Whittier Union High School District board, has announced he will not seek a fourth term next fall.