Calabasas Official Named to Lead Hueneme Schools

PORT HUENEME —  Putting an end to a nearly five-month search, Hueneme School District trustees announced Tuesday that Calabasas school administrator Robert Fraisse has been chosen to succeed longtime Supt. Ronald Rescigno.

Fraisse, who is currently an assistant superintendent in the Las Virgenes School District, was given a four-year contract with a starting salary of $109,000.

The public announcement came during a special board meeting Tuesday as trustees praised Fraisse for his extensive experience working at school districts and his willingness to listen.

“His 23 years has given him a wide scope of knowledge,” said school board President Ralph Ramos during an earlier interview. “The superintendent’s job is not to be the expert in one area but understand how all the areas run and create some cohesion.”

By those standards, trustees said Fraisse has what it takes to become the 8,072-student district’s chief, a post Rescigno vacated in January after 13 years of service. Former district administrator Robert Miller came out of retirement the last five months to work as interim superintendent.

Fraisse started his career as a middle school teacher in East Los Angeles and quickly climbed the ladder to become assistant superintendent at Las Virgenes School District. In between, he has held almost every position: high school coach, school counselor, assistant principal, principal.

“He’s been in the district for a long time,” said Las Virgenes Supt. John Fitzpatrick. “People look up to him for leadership. I think the fact that he’s been in the district for 20-plus years, he has a good knowledge of the staff.”

At Las Virgenes, he is credited with helping all schools implement the IOWA test, a standardized test for the students. Fraisse is also praised for taking care of the details that made it possible to reduce class size in first to third grades in the past year.

“He’s a very detailed person, but at the same time he’s a real person and that’s a hard combination to find,” Fitzpatrick said. “I hate to lose him.”

The district chose Fraisse from among 26 applicants from throughout California and Oregon. By April, it had whittled the search to seven candidates and then to three.

A deciding factor was his willingness to keep an open ear, while providing leadership, trustees said.

“What the board was impressed with was his ability to bring people together and to form a sense of a very cohesive team,” Ramos said. “He seems to be very open to the process of coming up with new ideas.”