The Westminster School District has announced its next superintendent.
Dr. Cyndi Paik, who has been an assistant superintendent in the district since June 2015, was formally approved for the top post by the Board of Trustees at its meeting on Thursday night. She starts her new assignment on July 1, succeeding Dr. Marian Kim-Phelps, who left Westminster in April to join the Poway Unified School District.
Paik has been an educator in Orange County for 20 years. In addition to her current role, she’s served as a director of accountability and special programs, an elementary principal, an elementary and middle school assistant principal, a K-6 teacher and a literacy coach.
“We are so pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Paik,” school board President Penny Loomer said in a news release. “She is held in high esteem throughout the district and community, and she has the right combination of experience, knowledge and vision to provide our students with the 21st-century skills needed to be college and career ready.”
For Paik, the promotion comes on the heels of being named the 2017 Central Office Administrator of the Year for Region 17 of the Association of California School Administrators. She was also the 2017 California Bilingual Education chair and has successfully implemented Mandarin, Vietnamese and Spanish dual-language immersion programs in schools across two districts.
[Read more from the OCDE Newsroom about Westminster’s dual immersion programs in Spanish and Vietnamese.]
Paik has served as an adjunct instructor at Concordia University, was appointed to the State Superintendent Committee for California Teacher of the Year and is a recipient of the Milken Educator Award, according to the district. She has a doctorate in K-12 Urban Leadership from USC and a master’s degree in teaching and administration from United States International University, along with a bachelor’s degree from UCI.
The Westminster School District serves nearly 10,000 students in grades K-8 at 17 schools in the cities of Westminster, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Midway City.