You can go home again … especially if you never really left.

Escalon Unified School District Superintendent Ron Costa – who had resigned the post to take a job with the San Joaquin County Office of Education – has now been retained by EUSD as its ‘new’ superintendent.

The school board recently reviewed a group of 30 applicants for the superintendent’s job but voted to go back out and advertise the position again. Costa, who was still spending part of his time at Escalon while transitioning to county service, said some ‘miscommunication’ between himself and the county office prompted him to re-think his decision.

The end result was an emergency board meeting on Friday afternoon, at which point Costa was offered, and accepted, the post he had recently resigned.

In a letter sent to district staff following the board meeting, Costa wrote: “Please be aware that my initial decision to leave Escalon was the most difficult decision of my career and one that I did not consider lightly. Since coming to Escalon, I have been fortunate to work with a highly dedicated and committed team and I am even more fortunate to be able to continue to do so. Since having to face this dilemma I have come to realize what a true honor it is to work for this district and plan on continuing on this path for many years to come.”

Costa said the situation with the county was one of miscommunication, and he felt at this point it was a more prudent decision to stay in Escalon. He was scheduled to begin fulltime with the county on April 1, but now has a new contract to stay with Escalon.

School board president John Largent said the contract is basically the same as he had before, doesn’t include a pay raise, and actually has had a couple of items deleted. He added the board was very pleased that things worked out the way they did, with Costa staying put, bringing stability and solid leadership to the district.

“I think everybody’s very pleased,” Largent said on Monday night. “The way it worked out, it was the best for Ron as well as the board and my feeling is that these things happen for a reason. I feel this was meant to be.”

Now, the district doesn’t have to go back out seeking additional applicants and they have a superintendent who hadn’t fully left the district, coming back fulltime.

Costa said with a number of issues on the horizon, from developing a new Charter home school to working with the district sites on the bond issue projects, he has plenty to keep him busy and looks forward to moving the district ahead.

“It’s wonderful not to have to look for a superintendent,” Largent added. “Ron is as pleased as we are.”