Grossmont Union High School District expects to hire a new superintendent this week, following months of tumult, public outcry over school layoffs and scrutiny of the short-lived hiring of a high-level official with a checkered history.
If approved Tuesday, Kirsten Vital Brulte — who most recently led Orange County’s largest school district — would become the East County district’s sixth superintendent in just five years.
She is expected to start in July, three years after leaving Capistrano Unified School District.
“I am committed to building on GUHSD’s core strengths, expanding its high-quality educational programs, and delivering on the promise of providing every student with what they need to succeed,” she said in a statement.
Vital Brulte wasn’t available for an interview, due to a long-planned overseas trip, a district spokesperson said. She also won’t attend Tuesday’s board meeting.
But in a statement shared in a Grossmont news release, current Capistrano Unified board president Lisa Davis said that district and its students “continue to reap the benefits of Superintendent Vital Brulte’s many organizational and policy reforms.”
Vital Brulte began teaching more than 30 years ago and has since held leadership roles in some of the state’s largest school districts, including Los Angeles Unified and Oakland Unified.
In 2009, she became superintendent of Alameda Unified, where she oversaw the creation of the district’s first anti-bullying curriculum and facilities master plan, according to the East Bay Times.
In announcing her planned hire, Grossmont cited specifically her work with literacy and math in Alameda, improvements in attendance and a drop in student suspensions during her tenure in Oakland and how she helped improve literacy and elementary reading scores in Los Angeles.
“Dr. Vital Brulte’s proven record of innovation and student-centered leadership is what set her apart from an exceptional pool of candidates,” said Gary Woods, the president of Grossmont’s board of trustees.
In its posting for the open superintendent job, the district had said the district was looking for a candidate who is “comfortable working in a strong-board culture” and has “experience leading a large organization through a period of significant change.”
Months of turmoil
Vital Brulte’s hiring comes on the heels of months of turmoil for the district.
Superintendent Mike Fowler stepped down early this year to undergo treatment for a brain tumor, and a succession of two interim leaders took the helm. The latter, Sandra Huezo, is now formally superintendent and will remain so until Vital Brulte takes over.
But since Fowler’s departure, the board has faced growing criticism — for cutting dozens of positions, including school librarians, and for meanwhile creating a new top leadership job for a former teacher who had been pushed out years earlier over allegations of racism.
The district has cycled through a series of superintendents in a short time and faced lawsuits from former s, including one who says she faced anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.
But the most contentious local dispute with top s was that with former chief of staff Jerry Hobbs, who the board hired in January in a newly-created role for which they had agreed on a special settlement to clear the way for him.
That’s because years earlier, he had been investigated for making dozens of racist, sexist and other offensive remarks around students and staff, documents reviewed by The San Diego Union-Tribune revealed. He has since left the district with a $187,000 settlement.
‘Not for cause’
Vital Brulte led Capistrano Unified for about eight years, before being removed without cause in 2022.
The district had faced anti-mask protests during the COVID-19 pandemic and debates over library books and sexual health lessons, the Orange County reported, but her firing wasn’t explained.
“It is important to mention that the action taken was not for cause,” Krista Castellanos, then Capistrano board president, said at the time. “We are grateful for her leadership and wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
“I felt it was a horrible time to do this, but the majority thought it was best to ‘rip the Band-Aid off’ and move on,” said Judy Bullockus.
While leading the district, Vital Brulte had to explain to the board that the district was required to follow state law on vaccines and COVID-19, Teri Sforza wrote in a column for the .
In Grossmont, such politics have often dominated board agendas, and drawn criticism. Recently, some community have begun trying to recall the board’s four-member conservative majority.
Vital Brulte is not herself a stranger to politics.
She and her family celebrated President Trump’s inauguration in Washington this year. Her husband, Jim Brulte, is a former state lawmaker and state Republican Party chair.
