Community Corner

WVUSD Board of Trustees Hires New Superintendent

With the words “you’re in,” the Walnut Valley Unified School District’s Board of Trustees welcomed a new superintendent.  

About three months after hiring a search firm, the board Wednesday night voted 5-0 to approve a four-year employment agreement and appoint Robert Taylor as superintendent. 

Taylor will take the helm from Superintendent Dean Conklin, who retires in June.  

His base salary is listed at $215,000, according to the agreement.  He also will get a $550 monthly expense stipend and $450 a month for a car allowance.  

The Corona-Norco Unified School District deputy superintendent of educational services attended the board meeting with his wife Tamara, a middle school teacher.  

“I’m excited I’m humbled to have this opportunity to work with fantastic people and such an outstanding district,” Taylor said. “The reputation of Walnut Valley speaks for itself.”  

Board President Helen Hall recounted a visit to Corona-Norco where Walnut Valley Unified officials met with around 50 people in groups who had worked with Taylor.  

“They spoke very highly of him, how visible he is in the community and how he brings people together,” she said. “I think that will be a strong point for our district.”  

Walnut Valley Unified administrators and the Walnut Valley Educators’ Association leadership have clashed in the last couple years, with the group representing the district’s teachers expressing concerns about a lack of communication and strained negotiations. 

Hall said the district can always make improvements and plans to do so under Taylor’s leadership.  

“I think as a board, we made the right decision in selecting Dr. Taylor as the next superintendent in this district," she said.  

Taylor, who began his administrative career in the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified, also has served as an administrative director, principal, assistant principal, and teacher, according to Walnut Valley Unified's news release.  He is an adjunct professor of education at the U.C. Irvine, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English.  He also has a master's degree in educational administration and a doctorate in educational leadership from Azusa Pacific University.

Board Clerk Cindy Ruiz said it was talking to secretaries who worked with Taylor, union representatives, and others connected to the Corona-Norco district that impressed her.  

“The CSEA president said ‘we are sick that’s he’s leaving. He’s a phenomenal individual,’” Ruiz said. “They said he has a tremendous way of being able to bring people together.”  

The board members also took some time to express appreciation for Conklin’s work for the district.    

The outgoing superintendent announced in December his plan to retire at the end of this school year.  The 33-year educator became Walnut Valley Unified’s superintendent in January 2011 after leading the Duarte Unified School District for five years.   

Before his Duarte stint, Conklin worked at Walnut Valley Unified for 12 years.   Board Vice President Nancy Lyons ribbed Conklin about the district’s real loss with his departure, the superintendent’s wife.  

“Dr Conklin is leaving here too quickly,” she said.  “We are sorry to see you go. Quite frankly, we are sorry we’re losing Babs.”  

Conklin thanked the board members for their support.  He called the nearly 15 years working for Walnut Valley “the best years of his life.”  

He said he has enjoyed his nine years as a superintendent, seven in Duarte and two in Walnut Valley.  

“It’s been invigorating,” he said.  "It’s been a blast. It’s been challenging in a very very positive way.”        


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