Banning USD Superintendent Accepts New Post In Fresno

BANNING, CA — Banning Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Natasha Baker has accepted a position with the Fresno Unified School District and is slated to start her new post next month, the FUSD confirmed.

On March 9, the FUSD Board of Education took action in a closed-session meeting by a unanimous vote to hire Baker as the district's chief academic officer. During its open-session April 6 meeting, the board approved her employment agreement, according to FUSD Chief Communications Officer Nikki Henry.

"Her start date will be May 1, 2022, and she did accept the job to work with Fresno Unified," Henry confirmed via email.

An email and phone call to Baker's office were not immediately returned and the district has not released a statement. The BUSD's next board meeting is scheduled for April 27; it is expected that next steps on how to fill Baker's seat will be discussed at that time.

Baker has led the BUSD for just under two years. She was previously the Michigan Department of Education’s deputy superintendent of education services and Michigan’s State school reform officer.

Baker's time in the BUSD has not been without controversy. In September 2020, she announced that the district had selected Terrence Davis, former Beaumont Unified School District superintendent, to serve as its assistant superintendent of human resources. At the time, Baker said Davis' selection was supported by the full Banning USD Board of Trustees.

The announcement was surprising because just a month earlier Davis had been placed on paid administrative leave from the Beaumont USD, but details from that district about why the move was taken were never publicly released.

"On August 11, 2020, the Beaumont Unified School District Board of Trustees took action to place Superintendent Terrence Davis on paid administrative leave. Due to employee confidentiality laws, the District cannot further comment on this matter," a Beaumont USD statement read.

In February, Banning school board member Mayra Anguiano went public with allegations that she was a target of retaliation by Baker and the majority of Banning USD Board of Trustees due to her questioning of Baker's conduct as superintendent.

Baker also had to lead the district through the coronavirus pandemic that saw the state mandate classroom closures and a move to distant learning.

This article originally appeared on the Banning-Beaumont Patch