The Search for a new Superintendent

Since former Superintendent Sandra Lyon left in June, the district had been without a permanent Superintendent . At a special closed meeting of the SMMUSD board meeting held Oct. 15-16, board members, with the help of the search firm Leadership Associated, interviewed potential candidates for Superintendent position, after narrowing down the list of candidates to six. “It is difficult to transition to new leadership but we have two excellent interim co-Superintendents in Drs. Chris King and Sylvia Rousseau, who are guiding us until a new permanent Superintendent has been hired,” Mechur said.With the help of the search firm Leadership Associated, the board was able to narrow down the candidates to six and began interviews on Saturday, Oct. 15. According to community and public relations officer Gail Pinsker, the board has been able to move through the process in a timely manner.“The Board of Education is on track with the timeline set forth for the superintendent selection. Management, teachers and staff are looking forward to the announcement of the candidate and the expected start after the first of the new year,” Pinsker said.According to the President of the board, Laurie Lieberman, the board is looking for somebody that will pave the way to help them close the achievement gap and has a track record of success. “We are looking for a strong and experienced educational leader who values diversity, has a strong record of partnering with civic and community groups and will lead us in advancing our Excellence through Equity initiative,” Lieberman said. “The selected candidate should also have a record of success as a strong instructional leader who values the importance of teamwork, collaboration and professional development and has a passion for improving the achievement levels of all students."One of the primary goals of the board is to work to close the achievement gap and according to board member Oscar de la Torre, he hopes that they will be able to find a superintendent who can remain dedicated to that goal. “The Board is looking for an individual who is a fit for the position and someone who can carry out the task of implementing the work outlined in our district's plan to close the achievement gap,” de la Torre said. “Superintendent of SMMUSD is arguably the toughest job in our city. We are looking for an education leader that can move an agenda forward by bringing people together”.According to board member Craig Foster, the board and the co interim superintendents have been able to eliminate potential obstacles that the new superintendent would face.“I feel we have cleared the decks quite a bit,” Foster said. “The goal is that the achievement of kids will be the main focus [for the future superintendent]”.In Pedro A. Noguera’s equity report, titled “The Current State of Equity and Opportunities in the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District: Findings and Recommendations,” he attributes lack of progress to numerous different factors, among them he mentions an inefficient amount of effort to provide high quality instructional support to all students, distractions unrelated to education, and people in leadership preoccupied with pleasing certain people for political reasons. According to de la Torre, he wants to see a superintendent that will be able to ignore outside factors such as those and remain dedicated to improving the education of children.“I have helped hire 5 superintendents and I can say that the majority of them were honest and hardworking but a couple of them learned to play politics and were driven by majority politics,” de la Torre said. “We can't close achievement gaps with leaders who are not driven by the principles espoused on our vision statement such as a commitment to social justice. I will not vote yes for anyone who is not fully committed to addressing the inequities that marginalize students because of their ethnicity, income, special learning needs, sexual orientation or gender”.The board is excited to go through this process and are hoping to find someone that will help them complete their mission of ‘extraordinary achievement for all students while simultaneously closing the achievement gap’.