It’s full-speed ahead in the search for a new superintendent for the Morgan Hill School District as consultant firm RJ Gatti Associates presented an aggressive timetable to trustees during a special meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Superintendent Carolyn McKennan’s contract expires June 30.
Board President Shellé Thomas said in a statement Friday that the schedule proposed by Rudi and Janet Gatti would have a new superintendent in place by July 1. On Jan. 18 and 19, Thomas said, the search firm will conduct forums for the community and district employees to gather input for a profile of the new superintendent.
Trustee Mike Hickey said Friday he was pleased the community is being invited to participate in the search.
“I am very impressed with the approach that they take in including as many people as possible,” he said. “I am sure they will use this to find out what general theme is throughout community. Along with the forums to allow individuals to voice their opinion, a part of their format is to have an advisory committee. I believe this would be extremely helpful. They recommended a committee composed of 16-20 people, including different city officials and people that would be appointed by the board.”
The advisory committee, Hickey said, would likely interview the final candidates for the position but not rank them.
“It is my understanding they would give us the strengths and weakness of the candidates, not a recommendation or ranking,” he said.
During Wednesday’s meeting, trustees and Rudi and Janet Gatti discussed the process that would be used for the search, a proposed salary for the position and possible advertising for the position.
Trustee Peter Mandel said Thursday that the board will be meeting with the Gatti’s throughout the process.
“I thought (Wednesday’s meeting) went really well,” he said. “We looked at the process, and there are a number of aspects to the process that are very valuable … We’ll be meeting several times with Rudi and Janet, especially as we near the end of the process. We also looked at the whole schedule, and it looks like we will be able to conclude (the search) in April, so the timing should be very good to give the candidate time to transition, to relocate if necessary and assume their new role … I feel very optimistic about this.”
Trustee Julia Hover-Smoot said the search process will benefit the board and the district in another way.
“Not only will we be choosing a new superintendent, but as a part of that process, we will be going through a pretty thorough needs assessment,” she said. “That should be very helpful for the board, particularly in making decisions over the next several years about where we want to go.”
Trustees voted during their special meeting Dec. 16 to hire RJ Gatti Associates, at a cost of $14,900 plus expenses of $2,231 to lead the search for McKennan’s successor.
Trustees Monday night discussed the proposed advisory committee to assist in the search for a new superintendent and a possible board retreat to focus on board goals.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at
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or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 202.
