Chiechi retiring

Oak View icon to retire after 29 years in district

ACAMPO — It's recess at Oak View Elementary School and the students are loose — running across the blacktop, shooting hoops and climbing over playground equipment. That is, except for one student.

Fourth-grader Reagan Choate, 10, sprained her ankle while jumping on a trampoline during the weekend. Her left foot in a splint, she hobbles along one of the campus' flower-lined corridors in crutches.

With Reagan is the Superintendent and Principal Bill Chiechi, checking up on her and listening to her story, as if it's the most important part of his day.

Chiechi, 60, will be retiring in June after 29 years at the district. School board members have narrowed his replacement down to five candidates. The board will begin interviews tonight.

Oak View Elementary staff members say one will usually find Chiechi wherever you need him most.

He was there with a shovel when Tony Macedo, director of transportation, maintenance and operations, needed help doing some work around the campus during the summer.

He was there nine years ago when Deborah Anderson, vice principal and former teacher at the school, told her eighth-graders that the tumor doctors removed from her body was, indeed, cancerous.

In his office, he keeps an overflowing dish of caramels and candy bars for teachers who need a break. Every Friday, he and Anderson buy Starbuck's coffee — hot chocolate for those who don't drink coffee — for their entire staff.

"People rally for each other ... and that's partly because of him," Anderson said.

However, it wasn't always that way.

Chiechi, a reserved, mild-mannered man, had his sights set on being a college-level history teacher at the beginning of his career.

"Even for the best of the best there were no jobs at that level," said Chiechi, who never thought of being an elementary school teacher.

Then, a friend of his who taught in north Sacramento invited him to hang out with his class for a few days to play soccer, tutor and just be around the students. It was then, he said, that a light went off.

A new calling

After a few years as a temporary teacher at Folsom Cordova School District, Chiechi sought a more permanent job and found one in Acampo.

"I didn't even know where Acampo was," Chiechi said, looking back.

He taught eighth-grade for six years before leaving the school for a year.

The school was going through some administrative and morale problems, he said. Half of the teachers at Oak View Elementary left the same year.

After a year's absence, the school board invited him back to interview for the open superintendent principal spot in 1986, a job he's done ever since.

"It was kind of amazing in how naive I was," Chiechi remembered. "The job was so much more complex than I ever imagined."

At 38 years old, Chiechi was on the younger side for a superintendent, and even he admits that it showed.

Twenty-two years ago, the twice-a-month district board meetings lasted well past midnight. Everything — budgets, labor negotiations, personnel issues — was new.

"It took several cycles to develop a comfort level and a reasonable understanding," he said of his superintendent position.

But, Chiechi had the support of the board, was able to stabilize the staff quickly and build on the school's success.

The state department of education named Oak View Elementary a California Distinguished School in 2002.

In a recent study about which Galt High School students have the highest grade point averages, students from Oak View Elementary had better grades than any other feeder school in three grade levels.

In the fourth high school grade level they came in second.

Throughout the years, administrators and the board have also been able to make several additions to the campus without passing a bond.

Success found in the community

Chiechi said that success hasn't shown itself in a single event or accolade, but community he sees around him.

Former students have moved back to Acampo, he said, purely so their children could attend the school.

Rita Rabon, the school's secretary, said she lived in an 850-square-foot house so her two sons, both of which are now in college, could go to Oak View Elementary.

As a parent, what impressed her most about Chiechi is that he knew the name of every student, not just the ones in trouble.

When he steps out onto the playground for recess, he gets more than 20 hugs from different students.

Sometimes they'll ask: "Do you remember my Dad?" He invariably does.

Measurable or otherwise, though, Chiechi will never take credit for his school's success.

"You don't make a school as good as this one with one person," he said.

As good as it may be, though, he feels it's time to go.

He wants to take a vacation sometime other than July, he said, work on some of his hobbies, mainly bonsai and photography, and do some volunteer work, something to do with kids.

There's some concern among teachers about what will happen to the school without Chiechi.

With one exception, he's hired every single one of them, and for some, he's all they know.

Chiechi doesn't share that worry, though. He said the board has a good idea what they're looking for in a successor, and he has no doubt they'll find the right person.

More than likely, he said, they'll find someone with more expertise that will improve on what he's done.

"I'm not worried about the future of this school at all," he said.

Contact reporter Amanda Dyer at amandad@lodinews.com.