Capistrano Unified to hire schools chief Monday
Source: OC Register
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
2010-04-30 16:25:45
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The Capistrano Unified School District is expected to hire its next schools chief Monday to replace outgoing interim Superintendent Bobbi Mahler, just a week after a crippling teacher strike laid bare the political rancor and community unrest in Orange County's second-largest school district.
The school board will meet behind closed doors Monday night to consider hiring one of two finalists; neither of their names has been released.
"They are the most impressive candidates we've ever seen," Capistrano school board President Anna Bryson said. "They have dealt with good times and bad times, and they are very well equipped to deal with the disparate interests that we have. We are fully confident in either of these people to be able to do a good job for everyone – those who agree with us and those who disagree with us."
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.
(Click here for a timeline of Capistrano's political instability.)
The school board fired its last permanent schools chief, Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter, in March 2009 after a tumultuous, 18-month tenure. Retired schools administrator Bobbi Mahler was hired a few months later, in June, to replace Carter on a one-year, interim basis.
Although the school board is expected to choose its next superintendent Monday night, it's unclear when the name will be released. The winning candidate must be afforded time to notify his or her current school district first, Bryson said.
Capistrano Unified 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 – exposed the deep community divisions in Capistrano Unified and forced many parents to take a side. Many in the district either aligned themselves with the teachers and their union leaders who called for the strike, or with the school board and its controversial imposed pay cut.
"In the current condition our school district is in – the strike, the budget deficit, the distrust of this school board – I have great doubts we will be able to attract the superintendent we need and want," said parent Erin Kutnick of San Juan Capistrano, a long-time critic of the current school board. "This new superintendent is going to have their work cut out for them just selling themselves to the public, because the constituents unfortunately have a great deal of distrust for this school board and therefore are going to distrust whoever this school board selects."
WALKING A FINE LINE
The ability of the next superintendent to walk a fine political line – that is, lead with conviction, but still satisfy the district's many vocal critics – could be key to his or her success.
Carter, a retired Army colonel, was celebrated upon his arrival in Capistrano Unified in September 2007 as an adept administrator who would assuage the district's raucous, parent-driven politics, yet he fell victim to it after just 18 months – and acknowledged it publicly.
In remarks to the school board the night he was fired, Carter said he was the victim of a smear campaign waged on blogs and in e-mails as the school board's composition changed over the past year.
"Get a life," Carter said at the meeting as his supporters applauded loudly. "And I mean that in the most sincere and affirming way possible."
Carter was enormously popular with union leaders, teachers and PTA leaders, but could not win over the district's many critics or weather the shifting composition of the school board. In 2008, five of seven trustee seats were reconstituted in a five-month time span.
Carter was fired in March 2009, by a unanimous school board that accused him of violating school board policies and state laws, illegally trying to sway school board elections, and deliberately working to undermine and embarrass the school board, among other charges.
MAINTAINING DIALOGUE
Meanwhile, Mahler, who has been at the helm barely 11 months, also has gained her share of critics.
Mahler has generally spoken in support of the school board's decisions, although she has always sought to have a dialogue with everyone.
"I would invite anyone in this room to please call me directly and make an appointment to come and see me if you have questions," she told about 900 angry demonstrators who showed up at a school board meeting earlier this month, at the peak of fervor over the imposed teacher pay cut. "It's very important for you to know that I do want to communicate with you."
Kutnick said Mahler's hands appeared to be tied by her interim status – and possibly by the school board that hired her.
"I don't think Dr. Mahler has been able to do much of anything, whether because she never had as much experience in a large K-12 district or whether the board has not allowed her to make any decisions," Kutnick said. "I don't think she can look back on the last year and point to any accomplishment or anything that has happened that has been positive. We've had a horrible year."
Bryson adamantly defended Mahler's track record, describing the retired administrator from the Buena Park-based Centralia School District as a capable, effective leader who has made great strides in a short time.
"She is the best superintendent we have had in the years I've been on the board," said Bryson, who was elected in 2006. "She has performed almost a miracle reorganization in our administration building, she has brought forth gifted, long-term employees to new positions where they can shine, and she has changed the format to help employees communicate. She has really helped the children get the education they need and deserve."
Regardless of how people perceive Mahler's track record, the school board appears poised to hire someone with a leadership style very similar to Mahler's.
"We are looking for someone who has wonderful skills like Dr. Mahler," Bryson said. "We want that high degree of interaction and openness continued, and we want education to be the primary focus."
Contact the writer: 949-454-7394 or smartindale@ocregister.com
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