Life story helped Cudeiro win Bellevue superintendent job

She emigrated to the United States from Cuba as a child, fleeing Fidel Castro's regime. Her father, an accountant, had to take a job as a dishwasher for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City to pay the bills because he didn't speak English.

It was not a background that spelled success in America. But Amalia Cudeiro, 51, told the Bellevue School Board that teachers and her family wouldn't let her fail, and the school curriculum challenged her intellect, eventually leading her to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University and helping her form her educational philosophy.

Captivated by her life story and won over by her educational experience, the Bellevue School Board Sunday named Cudeiro to be the next schools superintendent.

Board President Chris Marks said Cudeiro and another candidate, deputy superintendent Susan Enfield of the Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, Wash., seemed equally capable of running Bellevue schools.

A third candidate, Stephen Fink, executive director of the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Washington, withdrew from consideration.

Marks said Cudeiro's experience, and her background and bilingual credentials, gave her the edge.

"She has this immigrant background that makes her so acutely aware of the potential that everybody has," Marks said.

Cudeiro is a senior partner at Targeted Leadership Consulting, a company with offices in California and Hawaii that emphasizes school-leadership training. She told board members that being the superintendent of a district one day was on her "bucket list," said board member Peter Bentley.

Cudeiro has also been an adjunct lecturer at Harvard University's Urban Superintendents Program, deputy superintendent for the Boston Public Schools and principal in both the Santa Monica Unified School District and the Baldwin Park Unified School District in California.

"She has great breadth of experience," said board member Paul Mills, who said he thinks Cudeiro would be able to understand the needs of a bright child who needs to be challenged, and also a non-English-speaking child who struggles to keep up.

"Plus, all of her references said one of her best skills is team building," Mills said.

Cudeiro could not be reached for comment; she was said to be traveling.

Bellevue has a national reputation for outstanding high schools. It also has a growing population of immigrants, many of whom live in apartments around the Crossroads neighborhood. More than 80 languages are spoken by its students, and English is a second language for about 10 percent of the district's population.

Michele Miller, president of the Bellevue Education Association, said she was surprised by the speed with which the board made up its mind, although she thought the board had done a good job of soliciting opinions from residents, teachers and parents.

She said she tried without success to find out if Cudeiro had a track record of working with unions. Bellevue teachers went on strike for two weeks last fall over the district's common curriculum.

The board still must negotiate a salary with Cudeiro. The position pays in the mid-$200,000 range.

Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com