Community groups call for San Diego Unified superintendent search to be more transparent than the last one San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten is President Joe Biden’s choice to be U.S. deputy education secretary. The district faces the task of hiring a new superintendent. (File) In 2013, the San Diego Unified School District board chose Cindy Marten as the new superintendent behind closed doors, hours after then-Superintendent Bill Kowba told the board that he would retire and before the general public knew the board needed a new superintendent. Community members said the move violated open meeting laws and denied them the chance to give input.