Central Unified hires new superintendent

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Five months after being fired from his job, Selma Unified's former superintendent has moved on to a much bigger district.

Mark Sutton has been hired as Central Unified's new superintendent. He takes over a district three times the size of Selma Unified.

Mike Berg will soon retire as Central Unified school superintendent but he is now helping Sutton make the transition. Sutton headed Selma Unified for seven years before the school board abruptly ousted him on a 3-2 vote in February. He had just signed a 4-year extension.

Sutton said, "There really were never any reasons given. It was just one of the things where it was just said the board has decided to go in another direction."

At the time of Sutton's firing, Selma Unified Assistant Superintendent Teresa Wood told Action News, "It's built into our contracts that we can be released for no cause. That basically means there's no provocation, no allegations of wrongdoing, there's no charges filed against an employee, it's simply for no cause."

Central Unified added Sutton never received any negative evaluations so he was a clear-cut choice. Sutton has worked as a valley educator over 25 years including 15 years with Clovis Unified. He was eager to work with Berg to move forward on the district's vision.

Sutton said he was "Really looking to getting to know the kids and being part of their activities in and out of the classroom. Co-curricular activities are very important to me."