Ventura superintendent to join faculty

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Nov. 5, 2014) Ventura Unified School District Superintendent Trudy Tuttle Arriaga will retire in 2015 and join the faculty of California Lutheran University’s Graduate School of Education.

Arriaga will leave her position in summer after leading the district for 14 years, the longest tenure of any sitting superintendent in Ventura County. She will become a Distinguished Educator in Residence at Cal Lutheran in fall, teaching classes in the master’s and doctoral programs.

She began working for the Ventura district in 1975 as a paraeducator and went on to serve as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and director before being appointed as the first female superintendent.

Arriaga has received numerous local and state awards including Pepperdine University Superintendent of the Year, Ventura Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, California Association of Bilingual Education Administrator of the Year and the Association of California School Administrators Marcus Foster Memorial Award for Administrator Excellence. Corwin Press Publications recently awarded her a contract to co-author a book on educational leadership and cultural proficiency.

Under Arriaga’s leadership, the Ventura district’s dropout rate has decreased, and attendance and graduation rates have increased. Student achievement has consistently improved at all grade levels and across all student subgroups. Seventeen of the district’s 27 schools have an Academic Performance Index exceeding the target of 800.

The lifelong Ventura resident went through Ventura Unified School District, starting in kindergarten at Will Rogers Elementary School and graduating from Ventura High School. The high school’s gymnasium is named after her father, Coach Bob Tuttle.

Arriaga earned a bachelor’s degree in communicative disorders from San Diego State University, a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from California State University, Northridge, and a doctorate in educational policy, planning and administration from the University of Southern California. She speaks three languages and holds bilingual teaching, special education and administrative credentials.

Cal Lutheran’s Graduate School of Education has helped prepare more than 8,000 teachers, counselors, administrators, principals and superintendents for careers in K-12 and university systems. It offers multiple master’s degree, doctoral and credential programs in Oxnard, Santa Maria, Thousand Oaks, Woodland Hills and online.