Sixteen members of the community – some with ties to the Morgan
Hill School District and some without – were appointed Monday to
serve on an advisory committee that will interview candidates to
fill Superintendent Carolyn McKennan’s position.
Sixteen members of the community – some with ties to the Morgan Hill School District and some without – were appointed Monday to serve on an advisory committee that will interview candidates to fill Superintendent Carolyn McKennan’s position.
McKennan’s contract expires June 30. Applications are being accepted through March 1. The board and the advisory committee will be interviewing candidates beginning March 18; the board is scheduled to approve the final candidate in early April.
Trustees voted during their Jan. 31 meeting to ask each of the three employee groups to nominate two representatives: Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers selected President Donna Foster and Steve Spencer; Service Employees International Union chose Kathy Keith and Chair Pam Torrisi; Morgan Hill Educational Leaders Association picked Los Paseos Elementary Principal Bob Davis and Sobrato High Principal Rich Knapp.
Trustees also asked for a representative from the City of Morgan Hill.
During the Jan. 31 discussion, Board President Shellé Thomas said she did not feel the city representative should have to be an elected official; Trustee Peter Mandel said he thought the representative should be an elected official.
City Councilman Greg Sellers, who has one child who attends the Charter School of Morgan Hill and one child at Sobrato High, will represent the city.
The board also decided there should be two student representatives on the advisory committee, one from Sobrato and one from Live Oak. Hillary Anderson will represent Live Oak, and Emily Tewes, whose father, Ed Tewes, is city manager, will represent Sobrato.
Each trustee then picked a representative from the community to serve on the committee: Sue Barats, Bob Benevento, Janice Bergkamp, Shelley Hatakeyama, Linda McNulty, Julia Starling and Scott Woodworth.
The advisory committee will have an orientation March 14 before beginning interviews. The committee will not make a recommendation to the board in favor of one candidate or even attempt to reach a consensus. The members of the committee will individually rate the candidates, and the information will be given to trustees.
The search for a new superintendent is being coordinated by RJ Gatti Associates, hired by the district in December. The search firm is charging the district $14,900 plus expenses of $2,231.
