Newport-Mesa Board of Education Announces Mr. Russell Lee-Sung as Superintendent

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD) Board of Education announced the appointment of Mr. Russell Lee-Sung as superintendent starting August 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022. With 34 years of experience in education, Mr. Lee-Sung has been with NMUSD since 2015, and has served as assistant superintendent, chief human resources officer; assistant superintendent, chief academic officer and, as of 2017, deputy superintendent. “Mr. Lee-Sung has a collaborative approach to problem solving,” said NMUSD Board President Martha Fluor. “His intent to seek diverse opinions, attention to details, and genuine desire to build bridges and forge strong relationships with our community partners, parents, students and staff will serve our District well in the next two years,” she said. As deputy superintendent, Mr. Lee-Sung has spearheaded the District’s safety plans, response to crises and most recently has been navigating the District through the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership in the Education Division, NMUSD has improved instructional programs and student support by building comprehensive instructional programs and intervention systems districtwide, resulting in continuous increase in student achievement in English Language Arts and Mathematics as measured by the Smarter Balanced Assessment scores particularly at Title I schools. He also was instrumental in the expansion of summer engineering and music academies. As the assistant superintendent of human resources in the Anaheim Union High School District, Mr. Lee-Sung implemented a leadership training program for aspiring administrators which aligned to his strong belief to build leaders from within the organization. When arriving at NMUSD he also worked closely with the Classified School Employee Association to begin its first classified employee leadership program. While serving in human resources he worked to build a high-quality workforce to implement, support and lead the instructional program. Prior to his District level positions, Mr. Lee-Sung served as principal of two large comprehensive high schools, successfully closing the achievement gap and creating access and opportunities for all students. He also served as assistant principal, dean of students, department chair and teacher. Due to COVID-19 and the need for stability and consistency as we start school during a pandemic, the Board of Education will not conduct a recruitment for Superintendent at the current time. Instead, the Board of Education in its discretion will decide by summer 2021 whether to conduct a recruitment for the position of Superintendent.
Source: CDM High School New