Just a local at heart

Andrew Wainer

* EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the last in a series of articles profiling the

superintendents who run our local school districts.

When Susan Roper was a child, Orange County was mostly farmland.

“I grew up on a ranch in Gospel Swamp [now Fountain Valley],” the

Huntington Beach Union High School District superintendent said. “We had

four generations living around one farm.”

Her childhood, working the land surrounded by family, built a strong

connection to the area. She remembers her early years with wistful

happiness.

“It was great fun,” she said. “We were rich in love but poor in cash.”

Roper has spent the majority of her 63 years in Orange County. Although

she has been a district-level administrator in Huntington Beach for 12

years, her career includes seven years as a teacher in Orange County

schools and six years as a counselor at Marina High School.

Her interest in education started early in life.

“I did fairly well in school, and I enjoyed that environment,” Roper

said.

She began her education career in 1957, teaching fifth and sixth grades

in Santa Ana.

“I took to it like a duck to water,” Roper said.

Although she enjoyed teaching, Roper wanted to become more involved in

the students’ lives.

“I was more interested in kids than curriculum,” Roper said.

After her first child was born, Roper decided to earn her master’s degree

in counseling. She accomplished that at Chapman University in Orange and

became a counselor at Marina High School.

“Adolescence is a tough age,” Roper said. “I worked with kids ranging

from those who had a lot of family support to kids who faced some very

serious challenges.”

Her counseling years added to her repertoire as an educator. Although she

didn’t initially want to go into administration, the idea grew on her.

“I saw that I could increase my sphere of influence,” Roper said. “I

wanted to influence the direction that schools were going because I

thought we could do a better job.”

She entered educational administration in a different era. While working

as an assistant principal at El Toro and Mission Viejo high schools in

the 1970s, Roper said she remembers a strict dress code.

“Women were not allowed to wear pants,” she said. “But I learned to run

up hills in a skirt as fast as any student.”

In 1982, Roper followed her then-husband to Northern California. In 1988,

after working as an administrator at the Milpitas Unified School

District, Roper returned home to take a position as assistant

superintendent of personnel for the Huntington Beach Union High School

District.

“It was a good feeling to come back,” Roper said.

Ten years later, Roper became the district’s superintendent.

“It wasn’t a huge change because we always worked as a team,” Roper said.

Being responsible for running a district that serves about 13,000

students is a challenge.

“It’s tough to keep a balance between all the schools and tending to all

the needs of the district,” Roper said.

She said she is most proud of the students’ academic achievements.

“Eighty percent of our students go to college,” Roper said. “Their scores

on the SAT continue to climb, and our kids are receiving a fine

education.”

November’s failed bond election was the most difficult part of the job,

the district’s matriarch said.

The district’s efforts to get the community to support a property tax

hike to provide the district $160 million to repair facilities “was

disappointing and exhausting,” Roper said.

Although the district garnered about 60% of the vote, it wasn’t enough to

reach the two-thirds needed to win a bond election.

But the 18-month campaign did bring its share of benefits.

“I enjoyed getting out to the community and getting to know people

better,” Roper said. “Sometimes we get so busy in our own organizations

that we don’t get a chance to go out.”

In spite of the bond’s defeat, Roper is moving on.

“The kids are still here,” she said.

Roper said she’s moving forward on acquiring state funds to help remedy

some of the district’s facility’s needs.

She said she will take what she can get to help the students.

“Our job is to take every kid where we get him and take him as far as he

can go,” Roper said.

FYI

SUSAN ROPER

* Age: 63

* Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Chapman University, and

a doctorate from United States International University

* Marital Status: Divorced, three children, five grandchildren

* Hobbies: Running, golf, fishing, travel and cooking