Transitions
January 10, 2022
ACSA is saddened by the loss of Margaret Hill, an education icon who had a long and impactful history in San Bernardino County. She passed away Dec. 19, 2021 at the age of 81. For information about her memorial, visit https://bit.ly/3sZCEQo.
Hill’s 50-year educational career began in August 1971 when she became a teacher at San Bernardino High School in San Bernardino City Unified School District. Her last 16 years with SBCUSD, she served as principal of an alternative high school, San Andreas. She retired from the district in 2003.
She then joined San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools as Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services in 2006, where she served until her second retirement in 2012.
Hill was most recently a member of the San Bernardino City USD Board of Education. She was elected in 2011 and her term was set to expire in 2024.
“I am saddened by this news. Dr. Hill was always approachable and supportive of every effort in progressing forward SBCUSD’s social emotional and academic work with students. She was loving, kind, and a mover-shaker all rolled up in one,” said Rose Bomentre, assistant superintendent with Baldy View ROP. “She believed in all youth yet had a special place in her heart for those who found themselves in an alternative setting. She was someone who I could rely on being present whenever I needed her. Although she was a board member with status, she was always a person first and was humble, never too high to give down-to-earth hugs and share her wisdom.”
Hill originally joined ACSA in 1983. She was the recipient of Region 12’s Administrator of Year award for Valuing Diversity in 2011 and Region 12’s Retired Administrator of the Year in 2020. She also received state ACSA’s Continuation/Educational Options Administrator of the Year award in 2001.
In 2015, she authored the memoir “From Sharecropping to Non-stopping,” which detailed her experiences growing up poor in the South and living without electricity or plumbing. She would go on to earn a master’s degree and administrative credential from California State University, San Bernardino, and an honorary doctorate degree in social justice from University of Redlands. She was also CEO and founder of Maggie’s Kids Foundation, a non-profit organization which provides scholarships to students in the San Bernardino area.
She was involved in a great many community groups as a member and board member and board chair, including Kiwanis of Greater San Bernardino, Highland Family YMCA (charter member), San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation, National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc., Highland’s Woman’s Club, Time for Change Foundation, and the San Bernardino Police Advisory Committee.
“Dr. Hill was involved in numerous social justice and social organizations in the San Bernardino area often serving as lead,” said Sherman Garnett, ACSA Member Recruiter for Region 12. “I had the pleasure of working under her during her tenure as assistant superintendent at the county office and witnessed first-hand her thoughtful ongoing commitments to the educational community including her own foundation to assist at-risk youth in our area. She is a unique one of a kind that will never be replicated in our county.”
Margaret Hill passed away Dec. 19, 2021 at the age of 81.
Submit ACSA member job changes, retirements and obituaries for Transitions to EdCal.
Submit
Find your next position in school leadership.
Search jobs
Contact Us
www.acsa.org
© 2022 Association of California School Administrators