Stuart Packard

Stuart Packard just retired after 35 years in education, and spent the past 12 years as Superintendent of Buttonwillow Union School District, in Buttonwillow, CA, a PS-8th grade school in Kern County. He is a former President of the Small School Districts’ Association for California.
He has spent most of his career in high poverty and high need schools where student success was measured in relationship building and the implementation of educational strategies such as AVID Elementary that focused on student learning.

He believes in the use of technology that starts with high quality first instruction from empowered teachers. His district utilized 1:1 computers for 5 years before COVID.

He has focused his school community on serving birth to 8th grade and is serving the high school students in the Buttonwillow community with a mentoring and college/career awareness program. Physical and mental health have also been a part of the district’s effort to meet the needs of all students. Through the community resource center, the district has contracted with a local medical group and with a national virtual health care company to provide for the mental and physical wellbeing of the students.

The process to build new classrooms and a new Community Resource Center, as well as the process for developing a community and district-wide Wi-Fi system is in the construction phase.

He has spoken to groups in multiple states and represented both the Small School Districts’ Association and the Association of California School Administrators in Sacramento and in Washington DC.

He has served on the Boards of Self-Insured Schools of California, Schools Legal Services, and the Kern County Facilities Committee.
Stuart graduated from the University of La Verne with a degree in Journalism/Public Relations. He has worked in both the banking and education fields.