The Woodside Elementary School District's middle school principal Steve Frank, will take the top management position in the district beginning July 1. Frank will replace outgoing Superintendent Beth Polito, who is leaving her post at the end of the school year to head the neighboring Las Lomitas School District.

The Woodside school board voted 5-0 on Tuesday (June 4) to approve a three-year contract for Frank, said board President Silvia Edwards in an email.

Frank, who has served as the middle school principal since 2014, will earn $200,000 annually in his new post, according to the contract. He now earns an annual $153,877, according to the school district.

For now the board has no plans to hire a middle school principal, Edwards said. Three teachers who are in the process of obtaining their administrative credentials will serve as deans for the 6th, 7th and 8th grade going forward, she said.

The school board reported out of a closed-session meeting on May 7 that it authorized negotiation of an employment contract with Frank.

Frank has been with the district since 2002. Before becoming middle school principal, he served as the K-8 assistant principal for five years, according to the district's website. He was a middle school social studies teacher for seven years before moving into administration.

A Menlo Park resident, Frank graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and earned a master’s degree in educational administration from Santa Clara University, according to the district’s website.

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