Kent Kern

Kent Laurence Kern (born 1 June 1968) is an American educator and is both the current chairman and superintendent of the San Juan Unified School District. Kern became the longest serving superintendent of the district’s history on October 23, 2021 with 8 years and 8 days and counting surpassing Adambron's 8 year record (1960-1963; 1978-1983) and is the 3rd longest serving chairman of the district behind Adambron (1960-1976) and Brown (1990-2000).
Career
Kent Kern started his career in 1993 as a teacher at Will Rogers Middle School and was a basketball coach. In 1998, Kern became vice principal of Will Rogers Middle School and then Arden Middle School before being assigned as the principal of Starr King in 2003, then Carnegie Middle School in 2004.

According to his homepage, "During his time as a principal, Kern is credited with helping to infuse technology into daily instruction, increasing articulation between schools and developing staff use of data to inform decision making." After one year and two months, Kern himself stepped down.
In 2013, Superintendent/Chairman Glynn Thompson was being investigated for harassment and racism, and the board voted 4-0 for him to take leave. During the leave, Kent Kern was placed as interim superintendent. He held that office until months later, when General Davie was chosen to finish the interim period.
On December 19, 2013, the investigation ended and Thompson was restored as superintendent, however, his fate was to be decided. The next day, Thompson chose to resign, and Kern became interim superintendent that day.
Superintendent
On March 25, 2014, Kern was officially declared superintendent of the San Juan Unified School District. 1 month later, Thompson was ousted as chairman, and Kern was selected.
As superintendent, he has focused on the Special Education department, mainly on Child Abuse.
He has become more recognized during the coronavirus pandemic, and supports both hybrid (with masks) and distance learning (only when needed), and wants kids back in school as soon as it is safe. At the end of February 2021, he predicted that students could go back in-person by mid-march, and by the 3rd Trimester of the year he declared a hybrid resolution. He supported in-person learning for all SJUSD schools by the Summer of 2021, but also supports a requirement of masks at the schools.
On October 1, 2021, he resigned temporarily from his chairman position to recover from kidney surgery for 1 day, and Pam Costa, a member of the Board of Education, was placed as interim before Kern returned to the position.
Kern supports vaccine mandates, however, he announced in the fall of 2021 during protests that they are allowed to do so crediting the First Amendment.
He announced that he will retire around mid to late 2022, with contenders such as General Davie and Saul Hernandez as successor.

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