Jack Garvin Retires After Nearly Forty Years of Service to Orcutt Students

For 39 years, Jack Garvin has guided policies and has trained countless teachers, support staff and school board members in Orcutt. He has played an integral part in the education of thousands of Orcutt students.   

        After serving for nineteen years as superintendent of the Orcutt Union School District and twenty years on the Board of Trustees of the Santa Maria Joint Union School District, the eighty-nine-year-old educator has chosen not to seek a fifth term.

            Five member boards of trustees, who set guidelines for the district, are elected locally. Superintendents are chief executive officers hired by the trustees.  For almost 4 decades, Garvin, serving separately as superintendent and then as a trustee, was instrumental in the leadership of hundreds of teachers and supporting staff. 

            His career as superintendent in the Orcutt Union School District began in 1976.   

            Accolades have come from supporters throughout Orcutt and the north county expressing appreciation for Garvin’s decades of service. 

            “Jack is a remarkable educator. Nobody in our valley has given more time and effort to improve the public education experience in Santa Maria and Orcutt,” says Antonio Garcia, Superintendent of the Santa Maria High School District. 

            Mike Gibson, who served as an Orcutt district trustee said, “Jack was a master in his ability to bring groups together. That was particularly useful when district goals conflicted with employee groups.” 

          Garvin grew up in Seattle, Washington. He graduated from Central Washington State, attended San Jose State and received a doctoral degree in education from Brigham Young University.  His educational career began when he was twenty-two years old teaching 5th grade at Kingsburg Elementary south of Fresno. He was promoted to principal five years later.  “It was a crazy district to hire a twenty-seven-year-old to be principal,” he chuckles.  He then moved to Simi Valley, California, as an elementary principal and later as K-12 curriculum director.  He also served as chairperson of the first Simi Valley Planning Commission. 

Garvin’s theory of leadership is, “hire the best, surround yourself with good people and let them do their jobs. When things get ‘funny’ twist the situation a bit and let them go. Just get out of their way; don’t be threatened.” He considers his major achievement as superintendent was developing “high student achievement, hiring great employees, and mentoring a “family” atmosphere with employees and parents.” 

          Ken Parker served as Associate Superintendent for Educational Services during the Garvin administration in Orcutt.   When Ken was hired, he smilingly says Garvin told him: “For the first two weeks do nothing but carry a cup of coffee, a pencil and paper, ask questions and then just listen.”   He says Garvin told him, “When you want to get something done, “drink lots of coffee and listen. Then give the credit away.”

          From Jeff Hearn, Orcutt resident and former superintendent and principal in the high school district, “Jack is a remarkable educator who has given more than sixty years to public education.  He was invaluable on the high school board.  Nobody has given more time and effort to improve public education for our students.”

All Orcutt elementary schools received “California Distinguished School” honors during Garvin’s tenure.  Additionally, Orcutt Junior High, Lakeview Junior High, Nightingale and Patterson elementary schools were nationally honored as “Blue Ribbon” schools. 

Bob Bush, longtime Orcutt principal who followed Jack in the superintendent’s chair says, “His vision, leadership and networking abilities helped the district become one of the best in the state.”

          The Association of California School Administrators awarded Garvin “Administrator of the Year” in 2012.  

          In the mid 1980’s, the OASIS Senior Center received a home at the district headquarters site on Soares Avenue. Garvin and the late Alice Shaw negotiated an agreement to locate the now standing modulars to serve Orcutt seniors and the community.  

          Jan Zilli, elected in 1992, says Jack Garvin, “has made a real impact in the community.  I wish him the best; I am pretty sure he will stay involved.” 

           Joe Dana, currently the Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services, began his teaching career in Orcutt and is a close friend of Jack Garvin.  "Jack helped establish the caring, cohesive culture in our schools and district that continues to this day. He was a cheerleader for us all."

          Jack and his wife Inga live in rural Orcutt off Telephone Road on their “family compound” as he puts it.  The several parcels were initially owned by his first wife, Georgette’s family. 

Although his love for ballroom dancing never fades, Garvin says he will have more time tending to his 57 Mercury and traveling with his wife Inga.