Source: OC Register
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
2010-05-04 13:15:42
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Capistrano Unified's school board has tentatively selected a successor to outgoing Interim Superintendent Bobbi Mahler, but has not released the finalist's name pending a reference check and visit to his school district, school board President Anna Bryson said.
The individual, who is male and a superintendent at another school district, would be responsible for managing 56 schools and an annual budget of about $372 million. He is expected to be officially hired at a school board meeting May 11 and would assume the post by July 1, Bryson said.
"We're very proud of our choice," Bryson said of Monday night's closed-door decision. "He was notified right after our board meeting, and he was very excited and very energetic and looking forward to it. He is very oriented to student achievements, and he is looking forward to taking a very high-achieving district to the next level."
Capistrano Unified's next superintendent will have the dubious distinction of being the seventh person in the past four years to fill the district's top administrative post.
The school board fired its last permanent schools chief, Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter, in March 2009 after a tumultuous, 18-month tenure. Mahler, a retired schools administrator from the Buena Park-based Centralia School District, was hired a few months later, in June, to replace Carter on a one-year basis.
NATIONWIDE SEARCH
Capistrano's superintendent finalist was chosen after an exhaustive, nationwide search that netted 46 qualified applicants.
Bryson said the school board was looking to offer him a three-year contract, although she said its length and his salary were still being hammered out.
Three district trustees will visit the finalist's school district, likely this week, and also will contact its school board to do a reference check, Bryson said.
It is unknown when his name will be released; it could be as late as May 11, Bryson said.
Bryson also declined to disclose if he works in Orange County.
Steven Fish, the superintendent of neighboring Saddleback Valley Unified, on Monday announced he will be leaving effective July 1, but Fish is retiring and is not Capistrano's finalist.
POLITICAL UNREST
Capistrano Unified – Orange County's second-largest school district, after Santa Ana Unified – remains embroiled in bitter, parent-driven politicking.
A group of district activists on Monday announced they have gathered enough petition signatures to force a recall election this November that could oust two district trustees. It would be the district's second recall election in as many years.
And the school district is still reeling from three days of teacher picketing a week ago that forced the 52,000-student district to cancel or postpone scores of programs and activities and pushed student attendance rates as low as 30 percent.
The bitter standoff – which was over the language of a 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on teachers – laid bare Capistrano's deep community divisions and ongoing political rancor.
Bryson said the superintendent finalist had "done his research" and was aware of the political challenges.
"He is very aware," Bryson said. "This is a superintendent who enjoys a challenge, and he certainly has proven it with his track record."
Bryson also said he would be in it for the long haul.
Three years ago, following a similar nationwide search, Capistrano's school board selected Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified schools chief Dennis Smith to become its next superintendent. But he walked off the job after less than a month, citing "uncertainty and instability" in the district.
"The finalist is not an interim," Bryson said. "This is not a man who thinks like an interim. He likes to see the long-term results of his work. This superintendent will create news of a different type going forward. He will bring the attention back to where it belongs – the education of 52,000 children."
Contact the writer: 949-454-7394 or smartindale@ocregister.com
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