Former Fresno Unified superintendent who pushed schools to desegregate has died
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From implementing desegregation to putting women and minorities in leadership jobs to bringing communities together, Gerald “Jerry” Rosander became known as an “innovative change agent” who wasn’t afraid of a challenge.
The former Fresno, San Diego County and Sanger schools superintendent died in mid-September at 92. He was a visionary leader to those who knew him, even to a journalist who once wrote about him.
In the late 1970s, when Rosander was named Fresno Unified’s superintendent, the school district was fighting desegregation of its schools and the hiring of women and people of color in top jobs, former Fresno Bee Executive Editor Jim Boren said. In the late ‘70s, Boren was The Bee’s education reporter and covered Rosander’s tenure at Fresno Unified.
While Rosander held the job for just two years, his influence at Fresno schools can’t be understated, Boren discussed.
“He saw wrongs, and he wanted to right them,” Boren said. “And he wasn’t going to accept excuses.”
Turbulent times
When Rosander started in 1976, many school districts, including Fresno Unified, were facing orders to accelerate desegregation. The federal government was also threatening to sue the district because the school system wasn’t hiring or promoting women into leadership positions; most of those positions were filled with older white males.
“He came in and said, ‘Let’s get it done,’” Boren said.
Former @FresnoUnified Superintendent Gerald A. Rosander has passed away at age 92. He was a visionary leader during turbulent times in Fresno, leading the community during school desegregation. https://t.co/gElPUqfcgc pic.twitter.com/4RfklUBsvf
— Jim Boren (@jboren4507) September 27, 2022
Garnering community, district leadership and school board support, Rosander figured out ways to overcome the obstacles the district faced.
According to Boren, Rosander worked with the school board to create a Community Desegregation Program and restructured his administration to allow openings for women and people of color to assume leadership roles.
“And he did it in a way that was good for the community,” said Boren, who was amazed at the way Rosander worked with the administration and board. “He knew that the school district needed to confront these issues.”
In Rosander’s tenure from 1976 to 1978, The Fresno Bee also reported that the district was “immobilized” not only over desegregation but also the introduction of middle schools into the system.
Rosander changed the departmental structure of junior high schools to curriculum core middle schools, his obituary said.
Left one challenge to take on another
As San Diego County Superintendent of Schools from 1979 to 1987, he developed leadership academies for staff and the nationally recognized “Partnership in Education Program” – which won him recognition from President Ronald Reagan.
The office of education gained a reputation for its school staff development programs, including its training academies for school administrators, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“We have the finest professional staff; we have the largest administrative training center in the United States,” Rosander told the LA Times when he announced his resignation from the San Diego job. “This is a time to leave with satisfaction.”
“Any time you leave a job, the automatic question is, ‘Why?’ I left Fresno to come to San Diego for a new challenge, and now it is time for others.”
At the time, Rosander said he was interested in teaching at the university level, which he did.
The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit global policy think tank, recognized him as one of the “Innovative Change Agents in California.”
Over his 50-year career in education – which started after 23 years in the U.S. Navy, the Air Force ROTC and the Air National Guard – he was a teacher, professor, principal and administrator locally and internationally. He was a teacher in Fresno, a principal at five schools including Fresno State’s Summer Demonstration School, a superintendent in some of the state’s largest districts, the dean of education at the United States International University in San Diego and president of the university in London.
He and his wife Kendra Rosander established new bachelor’s and master’s degree programs at the university in London, Kenya and in the Pacific Islands of Palau and Samoa.
Rosander also took over the “floundering national office and increased the number of year-round schools from 224 to 3,480,” The Sentinel reported after he was awarded the prestigious National Year Round Education Four Seasons Award.
He retired from education until he accepted another position to take on more challenges.
As he was about to move back to Fresno from San Diego, Rosander came out of retirement in 1998 to be the interim superintendent of Sanger Unified as it searched for its fourth superintendent in five years.
Rosander was tasked with bringing a community together that supported the previous superintendent who the school board fired for ineffectiveness; handling SUSD business that would require a 4-0 unanimous vote because of three vacant seats; salary negotiations; and ongoing construction of a high school that was costing $10 million more than the $34 million estimated cost, The Fresno Bee reported.
“I truly enjoy challenges,” Rosander told The Bee at the time.
Raised in Kingsburg with his seven siblings, Rosander came from a family where he was one of only two who earned a bachelor’s degree.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fresno State and another master’s degree and doctoral degree from the University of Southern California.
He understood the importance of public education and the benefits the community can get from it, Boren said.
His leadership, whether locally, statewide or nationally, led to lessons that current superintendents, leaders in education and the community can learn from.
“The lessons from Jerry Rosander are that when there’s opportunity to make changes, take those opportunities,” Boren said. “Find creative solutions that make sense for everybody.”
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