Atascadero gets new assistant superintendent

By Michael Chaldu · Mon May 11 2026

Dr. Benita Scheckel comes from Hacienda La Puente district, will take over position on July 1

ATASCADERO — The Atascadero Unified School District School Board prepared for the end of the academic year with a number of agenda items during its Tuesday, May 5, meeting, culminating in announcing the hiring of a new assistant superintendent.

In the next to last item of the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Thomas Bennett announced that the district has selected Dr. Benita Scheckel to replace EJ Rossi as assistant superintendent of educational services.

Scheckel comes to the district from the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District in Los Angeles County, where she was district administrator of career technical education and visual and performing arts. Before that, she was principal at two arts-focused schools in the LA area, and even has credits as a voice-over artist and in musical theatre.

The board unanimously approved the hiring of Scheckel, who will have a salary of $187,602 and begin work for the AUSD on July 1.

Bennett introduced Scheckel as a "a student-centered leader with more than 20 years of experience advancing high-quality teaching and learning. She led programs across 27 schools and managed more than $10 million in grant funding initiatives.

The superintendent cited Scheckel's achievements in HLPUSD's CTE programs like establishing an aviation course involving flight simulators, dual enrollment partnerships with community colleges, securing major grants like the CTE Incentive Grant and Strong workforce programs, and launching a paid apprentice program in IT.

Sheckel was present at the meeting with her husband Dominic, son Wolfgang, and daughter Anna, and expressed her excitement at starting her upcoming job.

"I'm so honored and humbled to be a part of the of the Atascadero Unified School District," she said, addressing the board.

Scheckel then introduced Jessica Lloyd, who she said has been hired as the district's director of educational services. Lloyd comes from Templeton High, where she was the principal.

"I'm grateful to Jessica for coming back to the AUSD, after many years working in the district, where she said the district raised her," Scheckel said. "I know she and I together will walk shoulder-to-shoulder to improve academic achievement, and support for all students in the district."

The hiring was part of a meeting that saw the board address 19 agenda items, although none took up a lot of time. Among them were bookeepping item to set up the district budget for the next fiscal year, adoption of an English Learner Master Plan for the district, resolutions for Teacher Appreciation Week (May 4-8) and Classified School Employee Appreciation Week (May 17-23), and the approval of a survey to be sent to parents and school faculty on the district's cellphone policy for students.

Earlier in the meeting, Bennett used his superintendent's report to recognize two groups of district students for their activities.

First off, Bennett recognized the AUSD contingent that attended, and in some cases competed, in the recent 805 Game for special needs students at Cuesta College.

"The 805 games provide an opportunity for our special needs students to compete in track and field, and this year they added a basketball tournament," Bennett said. "We had 70 students from seven of the district schools that competed, 70-plus support staff, and 15 peer buddies from Atascadero High School."

Bennett said he was proud to point out that the district's basketball team won their first game in the tournament, and student Zachary Hyatt sang the national anthem.

Bennett also recognized the Graybots 973 robotic team from Atascadero High School and their recent success. He announced that the team celebrated its 25th with its robot, Dustbowl. He went onto cite the team's first-place finish in the Ventura County Regional, second place in the Central Valley Regional, winning Google's Autonomous Award at the state competition in Anaheim, and taking part in the World Championships in Houston.

"Going to state is big deal," Bennett said. "To take it to World Championships, that’s fantastic."

AHS student Keira, the vice president of the Greybots, told the board of the team's experiences this year.

"We had a lot of successes with our robot, Dustbowl," she said. "Happy to be here, honored to make the World Championship in Houston; we're in the top 1% out of 4,000 robotics teams in the world, so that's a huge accomplishment. We were happy to be there and to collaborate different strategies and work together with different robots was great."

The AUSD board will next meet on Tuesday, May 19, with closed session beginning at 5:30 p.m., and regular session at 7 p.m.

Feature Image: Dr. Benita Scheckel addresses the Atascadero Unified School District after being announced as the district's next assistant superintendent of educational services. She will begin with the district on July 1. Screenshot from YouTube