Fred Van Leuven, Ed.D, Associate Partner
Fred began his education career as a teacher in Anaheim Union High School District. He served as a teacher, Dean of Students and Assistant Principal in Saddleback Valley Unified School District, Principal of Poway High School in Poway Unified and Director of Secondary Education in Conejo Valley Unified. In 1996, Fred was named Superintendent of Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District and served in that position for twelve years until retiring in 2008.
Since his retirement in 2008, Fred has been actively working with school districts throughout California. He has served as the School Assistance Intervention Team Lead for Roosevelt High School in Fresno Unified and DAIT Team Member in Palmdale Elementary School District. He has assisted school boards, school districts and schools throughout California, Hawaii, and Guam in a variety of key areas.
In 2013, Fred assumed the role of President of the Accreditation of Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC). During that time ACS WASC has aligned the accreditation cycles of elementary and middle schools with their feeder high schools with significant K-12 improvement. ACS WASC has also created a new process that allows the entire school district to become accredited. Both the alignment of feeder schools and the new District Accreditation process is being formally recognized by the California State Board and California Department of Education as a key component in the States’ new accountability system of support. Fred stepped down as the President of ACS WASC in June 2018.
Fred received his Bachelor’s Degree from California State College Fullerton. He holds master’s degrees from both the University of San Francisco and the University of La Verne and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Southern California. He and his wife, Judy, live in Solvang, California. They have three grown children and three grandchildren.