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School’s out for… ever, come June for John Baker, Redwood City School District’s beloved superintendent.
Baker announced his retirement, effective June 30, 2026, via a direct message to district families and employees on Aug. 22.
“I have seen how much can be accomplished when a community believes in its children,” the superintendent wrote in the letter. “RCSD’s future is bright.”
Starting as a bilingual kindergarten teacher at Garfield School in the district over forty years ago, Baker has since served as an assistant principal, principal, director, assistant superintendent, deputy superintendent, and, for the last 10 years, superintendent.
Baker was raised in a multicultural household in Oakland and had every intention of following in his father’s footsteps to become a corporate attorney. However, upon tutoring underserved students in East Los Angeles for a community service requirement at UCLA, his alma mater, he fell in love with teaching. He’d go on to swap his major from political science to early childhood education and Spanish, in the interest of impacting young people’s lives.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA, Baker went on to earn a master’s from Stanford University and a Doctorate of Education from the University of San Francisco. He’d then dedicate the next forty-plus years to the Redwood City School District.
The district’s feats through Baker’s leadership run the gamut, from revving up 21st-century skills learning to fostering family engagement to supporting teacher professional development to facilitating socioemotional learning for students to forging partnerships with local businesses and community organizations — the superintendent cared to make school a place for community and achievement.
Baker’s contributions to language development in the district, including adding a Mandarin program in his first year as superintendent, are especially notable. While Baker’s maternal grandparents are Mexican, his mother was forbidden from speaking Spanish in school, according to a Q&A with the superintendent on the school district’s site. This limitation, he said, made her hyper-committed to ensuring her children had the chance to connect with their Latino heritage, which became a priority for Baker as well.
An avid proponent of the mission of public schools, Baker believes that “without a free, public education system open to all, those who are born without money and power never will have a chance to make their lives better by developing new knowledge and/or 21st century skills.”
Despite his concerns about less money reaching the district from the state, he’s confident that “we have made the most of every dollar in Redwood City, and our students have continued to have access to art, music and enrichments.”
RCSD’s Board of Trustees discussed at their regular board meeting Aug. 27 how to proceed with searching for the next superintendent. The district will update the community with a timeline and opportunities to engage in this process once the details are determined.
“Redwood City will always be my home,” Baker wrote toward the end of his letter, “and RCSD will forever hold my heart into retirement.”
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