A person is expected to be hired for the job on June 17.
By Vive DeCou /Special to The Malibu Times
Last week, parents gathered in the Malibu High School library to learn about the search process for a new superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. The district has hired Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, a school superintendent search firm, to organize the process.
“There is a good chance that the person who gets the job is not looking for a job right now and that’s where we come in,” said Dr. Albert “Bud” Marley, a representative from the firm who spoke to the parents. “My allegiance right now is to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. I have no qualms about stealing a superintendent from somebody else.”
Marley said it is important that the search remain confidential so as not to discourage applicants who don’t want current employers to know they are looking elsewhere. A confidential search means that only school board members and the search team will know the names of the applicants.
As part of the fist step of the search process, a questionnaire has been placed on the school district’s Web site at www.smmusd.org asking people what they believe are the strengths and weaknesses of the district and how positive changes could be made. Respondents are also invited to recommend someone for the job. The completed questionnaires will be pooled and organized by different criteria with the responses from teachers, parents and community members at large being separated.
With the questionnaire responses as a source, the firm will establish criteria for its superintendent search. Advertising will be done in national publications and professional journals. Also, people will be contacted personally who the firm believes fit the profile of what the district needs for a superintendent.
After the search is done, the firm will compile a list of approximately 50 applicants and begin whittling them down with interviews and extensive reference checks. A list of five candidates will be submitted to the school board on June 3. Those applicants will interview with the board and three finalists will be chosen. On June 12 the finalists will be subjected to further interviews with the board and a candidate will be chosen on June 17.
“It is a very thorough process,” Marley said.
The final part of the selection process includes a visitation to the community of the preferred candidate, a criminal background check and a media check.
Marley would not give an exact figure but said that his firm’s fee was between $20,000 and $25,000 for the process and if no candidate is found, the process would begin again and the fee would be waived. The firm guarantees its work and if there is a problem within one year of hiring, it will conduct a new search without a fee.
In the meantime, former Malibu High School principal Mike Matthews has been serving as interim superintendent of the SMMUSD after John Deasy began his job as superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools in suburban Maryland on April 1.
Matthews, a Trancas resident, had been assistant superintendent for one and a half years and is overseeing day-to-day operations of the 14,000-student district while the public search is undertaken.
He was mentioned by some Malibu parents as a likely replacement, but district board members said a public search for a new superintendent is necessary to make sure the best replacement possible is found.
Another community meeting will take place on May 10 at Malibu High School, located at 30215 Morning View Drive from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.