Grant Bennett Retiring as PUHSD Superintendent
By Don Ray
Perris Unified High School District Superintendent Grant Bennett announced he’ll be retiring at the end of the current school year.
The 64-year-old career educator has overseen the district’s nine school facilities in Perris and Menifee since 2015. They include six high schools, a middle school, an adult school, and an online learning academy.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” Bennett said. “I’ll turn 65 in July, and that’s kind of the traditional age to retire.”
Bennett earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Cal State University Long Beach, and his master’s degree in educational administration at National University. He taught for two years in Orange County before he was hired as a math teacher at Perris High School in 1992, and also coached the baseball coach there for five or six years.
Eight years later Bennett became Perris High’s principal before becoming the founding principal of Heritage High School.
Two years later, he moved up to the school district and ran three departments before the district’s Board of Trustees promoted him to the top spot, the Superintendent of the Perris Union High School District.
Bennett says the Board of Directors presented him the opportunity to select his replacement, or he could hire an outside search firm, but he declined.
“That’s the decision they’re going to have to make on how to move forward,” Bennett said.
While retiring from PUHSD, Bennett is looking forward to continuing service work in the community.
“I’ll do more of that with the Rotary Club, the Boys and Girls Club, the Chamber of Commerce — those kinds of things.”
And, Bennett says, there will be more time to do some traveling.
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