Schools

Recruiting Underway for New Superintendent

The goal is to have a new superintendent in office by July 1.

The school district’s chosen search firm is in the process of advertising for and recruiting superintendent candidates, a firm partner told the school board at its meeting Thursday night.

Ads will run in the Association of California School Administrators magazine on April 18 and April 25, said Walt Buster, a partner at Leadership Associates. Leadership associates will be actively recruiting, Buster said.

The job ad currently says a multiyear contract will be considered, but Trustee Shirley Hoch said she would prefer to limit it to a one-year contract.

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“I would rather have it very well defined, so we’re not wasting anyone’s time and we’re not wasting our time interviewing people we cannot afford,” Hoch said.

Surrounding districts that are also conducting superintendent searches will probably be offering a salary in the $200,000 ballpark, Buster said. The district paid former Superintendent Howard Cohen an annual salary of $171,289.

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Trustee Liza Normandy agreed with Hoch that the contract should be limited to one year, but Trustee Philip Weise, Trustee Judy Bush and Board President Maurice Goodman preferred the flexible language.

“I’m not opposed to a multiyear contract,” Weise said. “My main consideration is to get a great confident superintendent. The important thing is being flexible.”

Buster said the district won’t get many applicants if it limits them to a one-year contract. And he said that applicants would be looking at the unity of the board.

“What you don’t want me to say is it’s a split board,” Buster said. “Working for a divided board is not a good job.”

Under the timeline Buster laid out, the deadline for applications will be May 2 at 5pm. Leadership Associates will do applicant reference checks, and on May 18, the board will have a four to five hour closed meeting in which it reads the applications. If the board finds applicants it likes, it will choose four to five finalists for a day of interviews on June 11. If the board at that point chooses a finalist, members will have an opportunity to visit the finalist’s district and conduct further research. At that point, contract negotiations can start, with the goal of having a new superintendent in place by July 1.


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