About RCOE | History
Kenneth M. Young, 11th Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
2007- present
Kenneth M. Young was appointed to the position of Riverside County Superintendent of Schools by the Riverside County Board of Education in April of 2007. In June of 2010, Superintendent Young was elected to a four-year term of office in that position. As required in statute, county superintendents work in collaborative and supportive ways to “superintendent the schools” in their respective counties. This includes providing leadership in establishing and supporting an overarching vision for the educational outcomes of the students and schools in their counties. County superintendents also fulfill a Chief Executive Officer role for the staff of their county offices of education.
Since assuming the post of County Superintendent in 2007, Superintendent Young has continually focused the collective efforts of the Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) on the mission of ensuring the success of all students in the county through extraordinary service, support and partnerships. This translates into the RCOE Pledge that every student in Riverside County will graduate from high school well prepared for college and the workforce.
Prior to his appointment, Kenneth Young was serving as the Riverside County Deputy Superintendent of Schools. As Deputy Superintendent, he was responsible for all internal and external business functions, information technology services, facilities, maintenance and operations services, school district organization and legislative advocacy at the RCOE. This included direct oversight of the RCOE budget (more than $250 million annually) and administrative oversight of the 23 local school district budgets (approximately $3 billion annually).
Before coming to the RCOE in 2004, Mr. Young served the Lake Elsinore Unified School District as Deputy Superintendent of Schools, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, and Director of Facilities, Maintenance and Operations. Between 1998 and 2003, he was responsible for establishing a facility master plan that culminated in the receipt of over $300 million in state funding for the district’s then unprecedented school construction program. On the local school district level, Mr. Young chaired several school boundary, transportation and district budget committees.
Superintendent Young has taught vocational education in public schools and he has taught high school students in a non-profit international religious program. Preceding his employment in California’s public school system, he spent 18 years in the field of civil engineering construction, 14 of which he was president and CEO of a private engineering construction firm.
Professional Affiliations
Superintendent Young is currently on the Executive Board of the Western Riverside Council of Governments, the Board of Directors of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership and the Executive Board of the California Inland Empire Council of the Boy Scouts of America. In 2012, he was appointed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Torlakson to be a member of the state’s Public Schools Accountability Act Advisory Committee. In this capacity, he serves as an advisor to both the State Superintendent and the State Board of Education on the integration of statutory elements of the state Academic Performance Index (API) of student achievement. Between 2007 and 2010, Superintendent Young served as a member of the Implementation Committee of the State Allocation Board on behalf of California County Superintendents Educational Services Association where policy regulations are developed for the distribution of funds from all statewide school bond measures. From 2003 to 2007, he served on the Board of Directors of the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, and for a number of years, Superintendent Young also chaired the Southern Section Chief Business Official Committee for the California Association of School Business Officials.
Education
Superintendent Young holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix, a Master’s degree in Educational Technology from American Intercontinental University, an Administrative Services Credential and a California Teaching Credential, both issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and a certificate in School Business Administration from San Diego State University.
Superintendent Young has been active in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for over 30 years (all three of his sons and two of his son-in-laws are Eagle Scouts) and most recently (2010-2012) he volunteered as a Lake Elsinore area Venturing Crew advisor in the BSA for 16-18 year-old young men. He has six children and six grandchildren. A native of southern California, he and his wife Beverly have lived in Riverside County for over 32 years. |
