Becoming school superintendent in anxious, uncertain times in the district she calls home

IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE a more “homegrown” school superintendent than Cheryl Cotton, who in June assumed the top post in the West Contra Costa Unified School District on the eastern edge of the San Francisco Bay. 

Increasingly, school boards have turned to candidates like Cotton, who are familiar with their districts, as a hedge against the rapid turnover in leadership that has plagued many school districts.