Leaving School and Starting A New Adventure

Working in the same place for as long as she has, Dr. Joan Lucid has seen a lot. She’s felt the joy of watching children sound out a word for the first time and has watched kids she has known since they were in Kindergarten graduate sixth grade, confident and ready for Junior High. But while she’s enjoyed her time at the Saugus Union School District, she’s happy to move on to retirement.
“There’s just such a sense that I’ve enjoyed the journey, and I know there are a lot of good people who will continue the journey and the mission,” said Joan.
When Joan began teaching, jobs in public schools were hard to come by. So, for ten years she worked in the private school environment. Once she came to the Saugus Union School District, she taught grades ranging from Kindergarten through fifth grade. She remembers enjoying the comraderie and family feelings she and others involved in the schools felt, including the parents.
“They want to come back to Saugus because it feels like a family.”
Joan went from being a teacher to a teacher with special assignment, meaning that while she had no classroom, she had many programs and duties she was responsible for. She went from this to project coordinator, and from project coordinator to the principal of Cedarcreek Elementary during what proved to be a very special time for the school.
“As I finished up my time at Cedarcreek, they were awarded the California Distinguished School award, which was a pretty big accomplishment,” Joan fondly remembers.
From here she was promoted to the superintendent of curriculum and instruction in 1997, and in 2011 she became the superintendent of the district. Since she started working for the district, she’s enjoyed her colleagues. But when she became superintendent, she was shocked by how many people congratulated her, despite the many people applying for the position. “You don’t know how much you touch people until some sort of event comes to mind. It’s very humbling.”
Over her 37 years of working for the school district, Dr. Lucid has seen a lot of change, such as the shift to Common Core. But the biggest change she’s witnessed, Joan believes, is the rapid advancement of technology. For years, the district has been trying to push the envelope, looking for relevant uses of technology for the students. Dr. Lucid remembers working with TRS80’s from Radio Shack—a starkly different experience from the Chromebooks children have access to today. She has seen the importance of giving students access to current technology, and how savvy many of the children are. She also believes, however, that students need more than just technology.  

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