The Sunnyvale School District board on June 4 officially hired Dr. Gudiel Crosthwaite as its new superintendent, effective July 1.
Crosthwaite most recently served as superintendent of Lynwood Unified School District in Los Angeles County, where he helped achieve increases in graduation rates and a surge in participation in Advanced Placement courses. This led to Lynwood Unified being named a 2017 AP District of the Year by the College Board—a distinction received by only three districts nationwide.
In 2022, he spearheaded the effort to secure $250 million in state funding for the rebuilding of Lynwood High School’s Imperial Campus.
At the national level, Crosthwaite is a member of the League of Innovative Schools, which promotes creative use of technology in the classroom, and Education Leaders of Color, or Edloc, which works to dismantle systemic barriers to education for marginalized people in this country.
As part of its selection process, the district’s Board of Education used information gathered from four community forums, an online survey that garnered more than 900 responses, and 29 input sessions with educational partners, which included staff, families, students and community partners. Board president Bridget Watson said in a release that trustees “incorporated their collective input into our job description, interview questions and evaluative discourse.”
“We believe we’ve found an experienced, transformative educational leader in Dr. Gudiel Crosthwaite,” Watson said. “He is deeply committed to equity and a vision for improved outcomes for all students.”
Crosthwaite succeeds Michael Gallagher, the district’s superintendent since 2020, who is retiring on June 30. The district plans to schedule opportunities in the new school year for staff, parents, guardians and community members to welcome Crosthwaite.
In a release, Gallagher highlighted Crosthwaite’s “nearly 30 years of dedicated experience and remarkable track record.”
“His leadership at Lynwood Unified, marked by achieving significant academic gains and securing crucial funding for students, clearly demonstrates his commitment to educational excellence and community partnership,” Gallagher said. “I have no doubt his collaborative spirit and vision will greatly benefit Sunnyvale’s students.”
Crosthwaite is married and has two college-age children. One is pursuing a bachelor’s degree, and the other is working toward a master’s degree in education.
The new superintendent himself holds an undergraduate degree from UCLA, two master’s degrees from California State University, Los Angeles, and Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in Education from Claremont Graduate University.
