Eastmont School District’s Becky Berg Retiring as Superintendent

The Eastmont School Board has announced a major shakeup in the upper echelon of school district leadership.

As of January 1, Becky Berg will no longer be superintendent. She is retiring to focus on a pressing medical issue within the family.

Berg has been in the role for two and a half years (lucky her - she had to steer the district through the worst of the post-pandemic malaise). Her management style, according to a press release, is delegative but not necessarily hands-off. She helped draft the district's five-year strategic plan.

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The board convened on Monday to discuss the next logical step: appointing a suitable interim. That someone is Spencer Taylor, an Eastmont grad who formerly presided over Grant Elementary. Since 2013, Taylor has been the district's executive director of elementary education.

According to school board president Meaghan Vibbert, Taylor is a cool customer, exactly what Vibbert says the district needs in this time of queasy uncertainty. He also brings loads of administrative experience.

But he has his work cut out for him. The strategic plan is largely pro forma, but it contains some interesting and revealing statistics. More than two-thirds of Eastmont pupils are low-income. Nearly a fifth are still learning English, and ELL supports in this country are not what they should be. Migrant children - another undersupported demographic - constitute about 12 percent of the district's enrollment. These are but a few of the inherited challenges that await Taylor.

Time will tell if he stays in the role long-term. The quest for a permanent successor to Berg hasn't started yet, says district spokesperson Kayla Brown.