Superintendent

Superintendent's Office

(408) 201-6001
FAX:  (408) 201-6001

Steve Betando

Superintendent
408-201-6001
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Kelly Schriefer

Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent
408-201-6001
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Lanae Bays

Communications Coordinator
408-201-6024
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Meet your Superintendent

The Board of Education appointed Mr. Steve Betando Superintendent effective January 28, 2014. Mr. Betando began his career in education as a teacher in the Franklin-McKinley School District. He advanced from teaching to vice-principal, principal, curriculum director and assistant superintendent. Before coming to Morgan Hill, Mr. Betando was assistant superintendent in Fremont Unified School District, and interim human resources director/consultant for San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District. He arrived in Morgan Hill in January 2012 as interim assistant superintendent for human resources and was appointed to that position permanently in July. Mr. Betando holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Special Education, and a Master’s Degree in Education, Administration and Supervision. He has authored publications and taught a variety of courses, seminars, and workshops related to positive work relations, creating a culture of high achievement, preparing for negotiations, and effective evaluations. 

From the Desk of Steve Betando

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“On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin.” — Gregory S. Williams

We’ve reached this day, the last day of school. A day that marks the end of a historical academic year which we’ll never forget. There have been times of excitement, fear, disappointment, uncertainty and sadness. Today, we also take a deep breath for the relief of a welcome summer break. Let’s not forget the moments and experiences of great joy we’ve all experienced this year. 

While students, parents, and staff alike have had to overcome overwhelming challenges, we each have learned new things and found strength within ourselves to cope with sheltering in place during the last few months of the school year. I am incredibly proud to be present with you in our community, while embracing our potential with a heart full of hope for the future. I can’t thank you enough for your patience, your ideas, and your support in this time of uncertainty. 

While we still cannot yet announce our specific plan for next year, our staff is monitoring guidance and changing requirements of the virus status in our area while keeping our options open to best serve our students. To support that work, we have a very brief but important questionnaire to help us define the shape of the 2020-2021 academic year. We appreciate you taking a few moments to fill it out for each of your MHUSD children. Stay tuned for another communication from the District mid-July, if not July 1st, as more information becomes available. 

Link to Student Enrollment Survey

 

Have a great summer!


 

Morgan Hill Unified Summer information: 

Our Grab n’ Go Mondays lunch program will continue through the summer. (link to lunch page)

Summer school for eligible students will begin on June 15. (link to website)

Summer hours for the district office between June 8 to July 16. (link to website)


 

  • last day of school
A Time for Human Respect

As I watched the video of George Floyd dying under the crush of Derek Chauvin’s knee, I felt the suffocation of basic decency and respect for human life. Along with most of you, I was horrified that any person felt justified to treat another being with such vile brutality and lack of emotion.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Mr. Floyd, and my heart hurts for the conditions of our society at this time of divisiveness, confrontation, and violence.

I also reflect on my memory from the Summer of 1968. At 7 years old, I watched Olympic Track competitors Tommy Smith and John Carlos in a moment of recognition for the plight of the persecuted during the playing of Star Spangled Banner. After the athletes received their Gold and Bronze medals, respectively, each raised a fist donned with a black glove while also demonstrating other symbols of the oppressed. I talked with my father about what it all meant and he explained to me about the inequities in our society. It has been 50 years since the Mexico City Olympic civil protest, 50 years too long without complete change.  

As mentors of our youth, as educators who have been given the honor of working with our future generation of leaders, change agents, politicians, and citizens, we have a responsibility to model acceptance of others and demonstrate that it is the rich diversity of our society which creates a more valuable society for us, for our children, and for our descendants for centuries to come.

At the same time, we also have an obligation to teach what civility is and what civil disobedience is, and what civil disobedience is not. Civil disobedience is NOT disobeying or infringing on other’s civil rights. It is being civilly disobedient through rally, march, or demonstration against a condition. A message about respecting other human beings or valuing difference and respecting others who are not like us by making a public statement through demonstration WITHOUT injuring or causing any harm to anyone or anything else IS civil disobedience. By definition, it is a peaceful form of political protest. There is nothing civil about violent acts against people, objects, or inciting such violence in others, including toward those who are protecting our civil rights. In the same way, there is nothing civil about inciting or ordering violence against those who are truly demonstrating in peaceful protest.

These must be our messages for our community, for our children, our students as they become citizens and leaders of our society.  

Our children will be the ones making the change. Our high school seniors have already shown great strength in civil disobedience against gun violence and other issues. I am proud that we, as a district, are supporting civil disobedience to make the right decisions for our kids. 

I ask you to also help all our students learn about and speak up for the rights and respect of other human beings and the value of each person no matter how different others are from themselves.

 

 

Superintendent's Office