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Koligian named Golden Valley Unified School District Superintendent

Madera Tribune ~ Thursday, May 10, 2007

By Carrie Padgett

Sarah Koligian
Photo by: Special to The Madera Tribune

Golden Valley Unified School District recently announced the selection
of local school administrator Sarah Koligian to replace Superintendant
Marilyn Shepherd, who was recently hired as Superintendent of Monterey
Peninsula Unified School District.

Sarah Koligian, currently Associate Superintendent of Educational
Services in Central Unified, will officially begin as superintendant on
July 1.

Leadership Associates served as search consultants throughout the
process.

Sarah Koligian was born and raised in the Central Valley. She grew up on
a ranch in the Sunnyside area and attended school in the Sanger Unified
School District, where she graduated as valedictorian from Sanger High
School.

At the California State University, Fresno, she married local resident
Wayne Koligian, moved to the family’s west-side ranch within the Central
Unified School District and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in
Business Administration. She earned a Multiple Subjects Teaching
Credential at CSUF in 1986, a Master’s Degree in Educational
Administration in 1991 and an Administrative Services Credential in
1996.

In 1988, Koligian was hired as Resource Teacher at Madison Elementary, a
large K-8 school in Central Unified. Seven years later she was recruited
as a teacher on special assignment for state and federal programs
working in Central’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Shortly
after she received her first district administrative position as
Supervisor of State and Federal programs. In 1999, she became Assistant
Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction and in 2006 moved up to
Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, which included the
oversight of Central’s 18 schools.

Koligian’s experiences include assisting with building, staffing and
opening five new schools in the past eight years and successful
management of multi-million dollar budgets. She is a member of the
Foundation for Central Schools and currently serves on the Fresno
Business Compact Steering Committee. An ACSA member, she recently
received the ACSA Region IX "Administrator of the Year" award for
Curriculum and Instruction.

She is currently an adjunct professor at Fresno Pacific University and
teaches a course on Curricular Leadership in the accelerated Master’s
Program.

Koligian and her husband Wayne have four children, ages 10 to 22. She is
an active member of her church, serving as an elected member on the
Board of Elders, Personnel Committee Chairperson and Sunday School
teacher.

The governing Board of Golden Valley will introduce Sarah Koligian as
their newest superintendent during a regularly scheduled board meeting.

Golden Valley Unified School District, in Madera County, was formed in
1998. The current enrollment of approximately two thousand students is
anticipated to at least triple in the coming decade. The board expects
rapid growth in the area of the district with many developers ready to
build single-family dwellings.