Dr. Ruth Perez

DIRECTOR - REGION 1 WEST

Deputy Superintendent of Schools, Riverside County Office of Education
Riverside, California 
Term expires 10/24

Dr. Ruth Perez currently serves as the Deputy Superintendent of Schools for the Riverside County Office of Education. Dr. Pérez previously served the communities of Paramount, Long Beach, Lakewood and Bellflower. She has led a Paramount Partners in Education initiative to raise $250,000 in student scholarships and a successful school bond initiate of $106 million dollars to improve facilities and provide one-to-one technology for students in the district. She has held numerous leadership positions across the country including Superintendent of the Paramount Unified School District, Deputy Superintendent of Instruction for the Los Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent for the Norwalk-La Miranda Unified School District, Chief Academic Officer in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina, and Area Superintendent in Orange County Public Schools in Florida.

Dr. Pérez has also served as a Governing Board Member of the National Association of Administrators (AASA), the Superintendents Council of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) and the Southern Superintendent’s Association in California. She is currently on the Board of the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS).

She received her Doctorate and Master’s degrees from the Nova Southeastern University in Florida and her Bachelor’s degree from Queen’s University of the City University of New York.

As an English Language Learner from Puerto Rico and educated in the New York City Public School system, Dr. Perez is a passionate advocate for improving student achievement and outcomes for all students, especially the underserved and English language learners. Additionally, Dr. Perez is strongly committed to serving as a role model and mentor for Latinx leaders to help them achieve higher leadership positions and guide them through the challenging but rewarding journey of the superintendent position.