After transforming Ravenswood’s rundown schools, Will Eger moves on to his next challenge

A decade ago, the roofs of Ravenswood City School District’s campuses were leaking rainwater, students were shivering in chilly classrooms and buildings were falling apart. Today, the district has renovated campuses with new classrooms, playgrounds, football fields and more. 

The transformation has been attributed to its strong team of administrative leaders but as of next school year, one of the administrators behind many of those projects is leaving to tackle the challenges of another school district. Former Assistant Superintendent Will Eger is bringing his skills and experience across the Dumbarton Bridge as the new superintendent of Newark Unified School District. 

After graduating from Harvard University, Eger taught algebra and geometry for two years, then he decided to leave the classroom and work at the district level for Boston Public Schools. This is where Eger began to understand district finances, a crucial part of the work he would later do for Ravenswood, which serves Menlo Park’s Belle Haven neighborhood and East Palo Alto. 

“I needed a higher vantage point to be able to see the system more broadly and that led me to go work for a district. I’ve always been attracted to the most challenging problems,” Eger said. 

When he moved back to the Bay Area, he found Ravenswood to be a place where he felt he could make positive contributions to help the community of historically underserved students. 

In 2020, Eger became the chief business officer of the district and was later promoted to assistant superintendent of finance, operations, data and technology in 2024. He came into Ravenswood with goals to improve financial transparency and efficient budgeting processes, especially with over $90 million in funds available through bond measures H and S. 

Starting in 2018, Ravenswood voters approved four bond measures totaling over $200 million. 

The district’s progress in using the funds, however, had continuously been stalled by debates on campus designs and construction processes. Rising construction costs meant project delays were becoming increasingly expensive, adding millions of dollars in costs, Eger said. He took it upon himself to learn about how to get the construction projects on track, how to get designs approved and “start getting shovels in the ground.”

Over the last few years, the district has been able to complete the renovation of three of its campuses through Eger’s leadership: Belle Haven Elementary School, Los Robles Ronald McNair Academy and Ravenswood Middle School. Classrooms are now fitted with new ventilation and sound systems, warm-toned lighting and large windows that bring in natural lighting and all campuses have added more greenery. 

During his time with the district, Eger said he was focused on action, referencing Elvis Presley’s song lyrics: “A little less conversation, a little more action.” If a community member told him that they needed a new football field, he listened and moved on to figure out how to make it happen. 

“It’s important to listen to the community and get direction from the community. I think what they really want is action and results,” he said. 

Eger wanted to break the district’s internalized stigma that “Ravenswood can’t have nice things.” Over the years, the transformation has shifted the community’s expectations to, “We can have nice things and we’re going to have them,” he said. 

“Our schools are in a wonderful place because of Will,” said Superintendent Gina Sudaria. “ It’s pretty extraordinary that Will has helped us get not only a bond, a lease, a school remodel, but do that multiple times through the end.” 

With newly renovated schools across the Belle Haven neighborhood and East Palo Alto, Eger hopes that it’ll attract the community to stay in the area and start a “ripple effect for generations.”

Similarly for teachers and staff, he encourages those who truly feel they belong in the field to stay in public education. 

“That’s where the kids are, that’s where the impact should be had, but figure out what you’re best at in that area, and be the best at it,” Eger said. 

Eger began his own career in education when he was 17 years old, working with students at the City Year program in Boston through AmeriCorps. Since then, he said his goals to provide “excellent education for all students,” haven’t changed. 

Eger was born in San Francisco and grew up around the globe, living in Singapore, Indonesia, Philadelphia, Sydney and New York. He said his worldwide perspective has given him a stronger idea of the realities behind the lack of effective and equal education in the United States. 

“Growing up overseas, you kind of have this idealized version of American history where Martin Luther King Jr. marched and Rosa Parks didn’t get up from her seat on the bus, and after that we fixed our racial issues and overcame division,” said Eger. “We moved back to America and it was very clear that wasn’t true.”

After six years at Ravenswood, Eger feels he has done his part in helping the district meet the needs of all of their students. 

“The team is so good that they’re able to do the work without me, which has been really fun to watch them grow and thrive and get to that place,” he said. 

As Eger embarks on his new role in Newark, he hopes to provide the district, which has experienced a lot of transitions in the last seven years, with long term stability, planning and help build a strong culture to help students succeed. 

“I’m hoping to work myself out of a job by getting the district to be so functional that I’m not really needed anymore,” he said. 

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