San Benito High School District interim superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum on April 27 was offered the job on a permanent basis at a special board of trustees meeting. Board President Steve Delay told BenitoLink on Thursday that the district will now enter into contract negotiations with its longtime human resources director and hopes to have him start his new role on July 1.
Tennenbaum has been the HR director since 2008 and spent the previous five years in the SBHS special education department as a program specialist, resource specialist and compliance coordinator. Prior to that, he was a physical education teacher and head varsity football coach at Watsonville High School from 2000 to 2003. He also was part of the football coaching staff at SBHS when first hired.
Board members were forced to fill the superintendent's position on an interim basis after the Dec, 13 resignation of former superintendent John Perales. News of his resignation came the same day as reports of Perales appearing in court on gun charges in Santa Clara County stemming from an alleged incident outside of his Gilroy home. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Perales was hired by the district in March 2014 after various teaching and administrative roles in the Gilroy Unified School District, including serving as the founding principal of Christopher High School.
BenitoLink reached out to Tennenbaum but he was not immediately available for comment.