By Christina Lee

Town Crier Editorial Intern

Jim Negri started work last Friday as the new schools chief for the Mountain View-Whisman School District, a position he’s looking forward to.

“A lot of it will be a big learning curve as I get to know the district,” Negri said, but he’s “excited about the opportunity to work with a district that is pretty much new. It’s only one year old, which means that I will have the opportunity to work with basically a new school.”

Negri brings 26 years of schools experience to Mountain View-Whisman. He was previously deputy superintendent of the Pleasanton Unified School District. This is his first superintendent position.

In April, he received Central Office Administrator of the Year honors from the Association of California School Administrators.

Negri, a native of Oakland, also has experience as both a middle school and high school teacher in Oakland and worked for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District as a coordinator of the curriculum appraisal and as assistant principal.

Negri, who was named superintendent June 10, is the district’s first permanent schools chief since the board fired Trish Bubenik last October.

Eleanor Yicks served as interim superintendent.

Taking note of the newly merged Mountain View and Whisman school districts, Negri said he plans to be “building upon the strengths of the two former districts,” which he said, “is both personally as well as professionally exciting.”

“I am looking forward to working in the community,” Negri said. “Everything I have heard is so positive.”