The search for a new superintendent for the Morgan Hill School
District passed another milestone this week with the end of the
application period Tuesday.
The search for a new superintendent for the Morgan Hill School District passed another milestone this week with the end of the application period Tuesday.
Twenty-one applicants, all from California, have expressed an interest in taking over the district reins from Superintendent Carolyn McKennan, whose contract expires June 30.
Janet Gatti, of RJ Gatti Associates, the search firm hired by the district to conduct the search, said Friday that she and husband, Rudi, are pleased with the applications received.
“The majority of them are or have been seated superintendents,” she said. “Their backgrounds are excellent, most of them have doctorates.”
Though Gatti could not release the names of the applicants for confidentiality reasons, she described them briefly.
“The majority of the applicants are male, though there are a number of females,” she said. “There’s a good diversity, too. It’s a good pool, a good number, and the quality of the pool is excellent.”
Many of the applicants are known to them, Gatti said.
“We have followed their careers, some of them, closely,” she said. “We are aware of their current work and previous work. We can certainly provide the board with information about these applicants, if needed.”
The 21 applications were sent off to School Board trustees Friday afternoon, Gatti said. Trustees will review the applicants in preparation for a closed session meeting March 14 to decide which applicants to invite for interviews.
“Trustees will be measuring the applicants against criteria and qualifications determined in community forums and conversations we had with various members of the community and district employees,” Gatti said. “The brochure that was created from the input we received during these forums and conversations will serve as their measuring stick.”
Janet and Rudi Gatti held two community forums in January, during which the public was invited to give the search firm examples of qualities desirable in a new superintendent.
The board will not rank the applicants, Gatti said, but will come to a consensus decision on which applicants they want to interview.
An advisory committee, composed of 16 members, will interview the candidates selected by the board. Representatives from each of the district’s three employee groups – the Service Employees International Union, the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers, and Morgan Hill Educational Leaders Association – are on the committee, plus one student from Live Oak High and one from Sobrato High and a representative from the City of Morgan Hill. Each of the seven trustees also selected a representative on the committee.
McKennan’s pay package, including benefits, exceeds $170,000.
The board has yet to establish a pay range for the new superintendent.
RJ Gatti Associates was hired for $14,900 plus $2,231 in expenses to lead the search for a new superintendent.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or phoning (408) 779-4106 ext. 202.
