Desert Sands Unified School District could hire next superintendent Tuesday
After a months-long national search for its next superintendent, the Desert Sands Unified School District plans to recommend an internal candidate for the position.
Kelly May-Vollmar, the district's assistant superintendent for educational services, has been selected as the top candidate to replace Scott Bailey as superintendent on July 1.
The Board of Education will vote on May-Vollmar's contract at its meeting on Tuesday.
May-Vollmar would earn an annual base salary of $282,000 plus benefits over the course of the proposed three-year contract.
May-Vollmar has worked at Desert Sands Unified for nearly 18 years, according to her LinkedIn profile. She began at the district as a teacher, became an elementary school principal and then an administrator. She holds a doctorate in education from the University of La Verne.
Bailey announced in November that he planned to retire on June 30 at the end of this school year in order to spend more time with his family.
Bailey started his career as a teacher in Missouri and served the majority of his 30-plus-year education career in Nevada as an administrator, principal and teacher.
He was appointed superintendent of Desert Sands in 2017 and became the longest-tenured superintendent in the Coachella Valley in 2021 after Sandra Lyon retired from her post at Palm Springs Unified. Lyon was replaced by longtime PSUSD administrator Mike Swize.
Coachella Valley Unified also has a new superintendent this school year in Luis Valentino, who previously served as the chief academic officer for the Portland Public Schools in Oregon.
Bailey's base salary in 2020 was $285,000, and his pay and benefits that year totaled more than $347,000 according to the most recent data from Transparent California, a public pay and pension database.
Bailey guided Desert Sands, the valley's largest school district, through the COVID-19 pandemic, overseeing 34 schools, 2,800 employees and 27,000 students during the district's abrupt transition to distance learning and its 2021 reopening plan. He supported the district's adherence to CDC, state and county public health guidelines related to the virus amid pushback from a vocal group of parents and community members who have protested the district's COVID-19 safety plan for months, called for a recall of board members and at times picketed outside the district office and disrupted school board meetings.
Under Bailey's leadership, DSUSD has won three Golden Bells, the most prestigious award given to school districts by the California School Boards Association.
In 2021, DSUSD was honored for its early childhood literacy program and the Desert Sands Leadership Academy, a community leadership program for teachers, staff and administrators. Two years earlier, the district won a Golden Bell for its LTE network build project, designed to provide equitable access to broadband across the Coachella Valley.
“Desert Sands will always be part of my family, and I’ll now be able to do an about face and support my family that’s sacrificed a lot of time over the years to support me,” Bailey said in November.
Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com or @Writes_Jonathan.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Desert Sands Unified to reccomend Kelly May-Vollmar for superintendent
