Ontario-Montclair district board to interview superintendent search firms
ONTARIO -- Ontario-Montclair School District board members will interview four search firms as part of the effort to find a new superintendent.
The firms will be interviewed at a workshop at 6 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Briggs Education Center, 950 W. D St.
At a meeting last Thursday, the board reviewed eight search firms. Jim Huge and Associates, HYA and Associates, Ray and Associates and International Group were invited to the special board workshop for an interview and presentation.
"We'll invite them to talk for 10 minutes and have a five-minute questions/answer session right after," said board President Steve Garcia.
During the session, board members are expected to ask the firms if they're involved with any other searches, if they're flexible with their expenses and why the district should select a search firm.
OMSD Superintendent Virgil Barnes speaks to parents at a Coffee with the Superintendent last year. Photo by Thomas Cordova.
The superintendent search is expected to cost the district at least $24,000.
Superintendent Virgil Barnes is scheduled to retire at the end of the school year.
During public comment Thursday, OMSD Teachers Association President Rick McClure urged board members to have district employees conduct the search to save money.
"Given the economic climate, we think this is a bad time to spend money on a search firm when it can be done at home," he said.
Board member Sam Crowe said he can't see what additional support a firm could provide the district.
"Unless the consultant has someone in their pocket already in mind that we wouldn't be able to locate -- then they're not going to be doing anything that we wouldn't do."
Although it is months before Barnes leaves, the process of finding a superintendent can take up to six months.
It is uncertain if the board will make the decision of hiring a firm or conducting the search in-house at the Jan. 14 meeting, Garcia said Friday.
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