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Protégé aspires to follow mentor in SJCOE role

TRACY -- Dr. Jeff Tilton today announced his candidacy for San Joaquin County Office of Education Superintendent of Schools, currently held by Dr. Mick Founts, who announced last week that he will not seek re-election in 2014.

Tilton, Deputy Superintendent of Schools, New Jerusalem School District, is a former administrator with SJCOE and co-founded the nationally renowned “one.” program at SCJOE with Founts in the 1990s.

“Ever since Mick and (former SJCOE Superintendent) Dr. Rick Wentworth hired me in 1992, I wanted to one day be the SJCOE superintendent,” said Tilton, who was raised in Manteca and attended Manteca schools. “Those two, especially Mick, molded me into the professional that I am today. It is truly a “pay-it-forward” moment for those two and all of the educators who made a difference in my life.”

Tilton has a long history of creating innovative programs for students, including authoring and founding three charter schools while serving at the Stanislaus County Office of Education. He also founded Delhi High School. His career started at his alma mater, Manteca High School, as an English teacher and football, wrestling, and baseball coach. He then joined the SJCOE soon after Wentworth was elected. After a stint in building the Delhi Educational Park – a 7-adult joint county-school district project, working as an administrator in Sonoma County’s largest high school, and then joining the Stanislaus COE, Tilton worked nearly 10 years with schools throughout nation via the non-profit Northwest Evaluation Association. He returned to San Joaquin County in 2012 to join Superintendent David Thoming and New Jerusalem School District, the fastest growing district in San Joaquin County.

“One of my principles is to make a difference for kids – directly,” said Tilton, “not by sitting in an office and chasing grants and writing policy. A true educational leader, as I learned from Dr. Founts, is one who is active, one who is student-centered, and one who cares.”

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