John Rubio
Superintendent
About Dr. John Rubio
John Rubio Superintendent was born in Chicago, and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Delaware with two separate degrees – a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.S. in Criminal Justice, but his plans for law school changed when he learned of a new non-profit, Teach for America (TFA), that was sending new teachers into high areas of need. John Rubio was sent into South Central and also Compton as a young teacher, and was featured in the L.A. Times as a teacher, and then became the ongoing source to a front page ongoing story by Howard Blume entitled “The Anatomy of a School’s Disaster” where John Rubio helped reveal terrible inadequacies for students. John Rubio later worked for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District as a teacher, coach, and as an administrator, before being asked in 1998 by the SFUSD superintendent to come up to San Francisco to help one of their middle schools. Dr. John Rubio has remained in the Bay Area since then, and currently resides with his family in Burlingame, California.
John Rubio – Leadership Style
John Rubio Superintendent completed his doctoral degree at UCLA with a focus on leadership style. John believes that individuals in positions of power, regardless of their position or title, have a responsibility to still always be kind, caring and respectful to their staff and everyone around them.
John believes that relationships come first at all times, and when things get rough, then it is the relationships which must continue to be the focus.
John Rubio – Recent Work Experience
John Rubio Superintendent was selected among 61 applicants with the help of the recruiting firm Leadership Associates to be the Superintendent of the small Emery Unified School District in 2014. John was the first superintendent in over twenty years to receive a contract extension in Emeryville, where they had 7 Superintendents in the 11 years prior to Dr. John Rubio. John’s charge by the board was to get them out of financial trouble, raise their academic achievement, and help them build a new K-12 city-district school and community center.
After meeting his goals, John took on the job of Associate Superintendent at a much larger district in San Jose, with 22,000 students, the East Side Union High School District, to meet a personal goal of extending his experience to the high school level. John has been the leader of HR for the district, as well as the lead negotiator, since beginning there in 2018, though the majority of his experience continues to be at the k-8 level.
John currently still serves in East Side Union as Associate Superintendent.
John Rubio – Instructional Leader
Dr. John Rubio believes that it is critical that the educators who make it to higher levels of administration were very strong teachers. John Rubio was a very strong classroom teacher, and this continues to affect his views and vision of what great teaching looks like.
John Rubio – School Construction Experience
Other Articles or information about Dr. John Rubio:
Article on how leaders should treat their subordinates
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjohnrubio
John Rubio – Partnerships and Parcel Taxes
Dr. John Rubio was able to raise $50,000 for a successful “20 year” Parcel Tax extension in Emeryville. John worked the phone banks, and put up many signs around the city himself late at night to ensure a high level of visibility for Measure K.