CyberFair 2000 Project
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Carpinteria, California, USA

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Project Narrative Information Sources

Dr. Van Riley, Superintendent of Schools

By Mason F.

Hi, my name is Mason F., and I had the chance to interview our superintendent, Dr. Van William Riley. His parents decided to name him "Van" because their family name used to be VanRiley, so they wanted to keep the "Van" in the family. His parents' names are Amos and Florence Riley. He was born in San Jose, California. He spent his childhood in the same house his whole life in San Jose. The things he remembers most about his childhood are riding bikes around the cherry orchards, and two new free- ways being built right by their house. Most of his family is still in San Jose area. He has two children and one grand daughter there names are Matt and Sarah. Sarah and her husband, Christopher, have a daughter named Isabella. Matt graduated from UCSB and is an avid volleyball player.

Dr. Riley is a successful community leader. He feels that his wife, kids, and family have been very supportive of his career. His job is very important. When asked about what he does for his job he said, "I oversee everything in the district and see that everyone has the materials they need."

His favorite part of his job is when he gets to work with students, like playing the piano for school plays. The hardest part of his job are the more time- consuming tasks like legal issues, the state bidding process and taking care of facilities. He says that over half of his time is spent on facilities and new sites. Another hard part of his job is that there are program and staffing needs, and the district just doesn't have the money to do it all. He said that sometimes he just wishes we had an extra million dollars to add to a twenty million-dollar budget, that it would help.

I asked him what path he took to become a leader in Carpinteria. He has spent many years in education. He started as an aid in a deaf and blind preschool when he was eighteen. Then he went on to become a teacher. He has his teaching credentials in math, science, and computers. He really enjoyed teaching middle school.

The thing he is most excited about these days is his new granddaughter, Isabella. Besides playing with his new granddaughter, his hobbies include playing piano and other instruments like guitar, drums, mandolin, and old string instruments. He used to be in a rock and roll band that played 60's rock music. He also wrote musicals in college. When his daughter graduated, he wrote a "rock opera" about her life. I was curious, so I asked him what kind of car he drove. He can be seen driving around in his black suburban, which he says makes people think he's in the FBI.

When I asked him to describe any changes that have taken place since he became a leader he said, "Students are becoming more prepared for the next grade level, sites have been repaired, maintained, more staff has been hired and half of the staff has or is achieving their masters degree." When he came to the district, there were basically no computers in the classroom. Now our district is a leader in technology. All this in only five years in the district!

I asked him if he could have any other job what would he do. He said he would have one where he had a lot of free time to do things like golf, hiking, sailing, travel, and playing music.

Have A Nice Day!!!!

This page was written by Mason F.
This page was edited by Mason F.
This page was photographed by Mason F.

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