OUSD Announces Aida Glimme as New Superintendent of Schools

    After conducting multiple community listening sessions via Zoom and candidate interviews throughout the summer, the Orinda Union School District’s (OUSD) board of trustees found its new superintendent: Aida Glimme.
    Glimme, who has worked as an associate superintendent at the Acalanes Union High School District since 2014, was approved as the latest OUSD superintendent at a July 19 board meeting and starts working for the district this month.
    As superintendent, Glimme will oversee almost every aspect of the district, according to Board President Liz Daoust, coordinating and communicating OUSD activities with parents, teachers and the community at large.
    “It’s a very big job, and it is all year long,” said former Superintendent Dr. Carolyn Seaton about the position. “We spend a great deal of time not just wrapping up and reflecting on the school year, but looking forward and getting everything prepared for the school year that is coming.”
    Selected by the Board in 2016, Seaton announced her plans to retire in May.
    Upon reflection, Seaton said she is most proud of the progress she made with respect to equity and streamlining donations in the district – with the latter being especially important for OUSD funding.
    Compared to other districts, schools in Orinda do not receive a lot of money from the state, which makes donations an important part of their budget, Seaton noted. Because of her efforts, along with others, the Orinda Network for Education was created in 2020 to centralize donations across OUSD schools.
    In the budget approved for the 2021-2022 school year, the network raised over $2 million dollars, a figure that represents more than 30% of the district’s local revenue.
    Seaton said she is looking forward to her retirement as a way to spend more time with family and pick up new hobbies. But she still wants to be involved with education, she added, possibly teaching university courses or coaching school administrators in her free time.
    When explaining the board’s decision to choose Glimme as superintendent, Daoust highlighted, among other things, her outlook on student success.
    “She is very student focused, both from an academic as well as a social and emotional perspective, and that is really important,” Daoust said. “Having that balance in our district was really impressive from a leadership standpoint.”
    After immigrating to the United States from Bosnia in 1992, Glimme said her experience in high school as an English learner helped guide her work in education. As a former teacher and now administrator, she uses an equity lens to evaluate policies, with her most important goal being all students are supported and given the chance to succeed in the classroom.
    At the Acalanes School District, she oversaw curriculum and instruction. With her emphasis on inclusion, she helped update class reading materials to make them more accessible and relevant for students.
    She noted data analysis informs many of her decisions as an educator. “I do a lot of data work. I get in and examine our own local data about who is not learning and how I can support them in every single classroom,” Glimme said. “I’m a very data and evidence-driven person.”
    She explained her time at the high school level will help her guide K-8 students as they graduate from OUSD schools.
    In addition, Glimme acknowledged the importance as a superintendent of listening to parents. She hopes to continue the work the district has done over the years to involve parents in their child’s education.
    “I want to continue to serve this community, albeit in a different role,” Glimme said. “I’m really excited to be in Orinda, and I’m looking forward to many years of my partnership with the community.”