Pomona Unified board to hold meeting on superintendent selection weeks before new members are seated
POMONA - Board members of the Pomona Unified School District have scheduled a special meeting on Nov. 17 for the possible selection of a new superintendent.
The meeting would take place three weeks before two new board members, elected on Tuesday, will be seated.
The district's lawyer, Kasey Haws, made the announcement at Wednesday night's board meeting. Plans call for the meeting to begin at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at the district's Education Center, 800 S. Garey Ave.
The announcement surprised incoming board member Roberta Perlman who on Tuesday was elected to a four-year term.
Perlman said Wednesday she was under the impression the board would leave the matter of selecting a new superintendent to the incoming board "when they did what I considered the wise thing - to wait."
Board members began the search for a new superintendent in August after Superintendent Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana left to take a post with President Obama's administration.
The initial timeline called for selecting a replacement by October but some community members said the matter should be put off until after Tuesday's election.
Perlman said it doesn't make sense to act at this time.
The new board, which includes returning members Andrew Wong and Adrienne Konigar-Macklin and newcomers Perlman and Jason Rothman, will be seated Dec. 9.
Outgoing board member John Avila said the board waited until after the election to keep the matter "out of the politics" but it's now time to act.
The board will review all the work up to this point and go beyond that, Avila said.
"I hope it would come down to a selection" at the special meeting, he said.
Like Avila, outgoing board member Steve Lustro said the current board should continue with the selection process.
"The sitting board members went through the interview process. We had the chance to meet with the candidates and talk with them," Lustro said. "We see this as finishing the processes."
Some may say the decision should be left to the next board, but "there doesn't seem to be any logical reason to wait until the two new board members are seated," he said.
Waiting longer would only draw out the process, Lustro said.
Lustro and Avila expect opposition.
"We're going to take heat one way or another," Lustro said.
Members of the current board are entitled to talk about the selection process but they shouldn't go as far as choosing someone for the job, said Tyra Weis, president of the Associated Pomona Teachers.
"If they are meeting to review their work and make a recommendation to the incoming board, that's a good idea," Weis said. "We appreciate the time they devoted to the search for a new superintendent."
However, the board should not go beyond making a recommendation, she said.
Voters elected two new board members and have changed the makeup of the board, Weis said.
Board members should hold off, let the new members be seated and in that way "let the people's voice be heard," she said.
I have followed the articles in the paper regarding this issue and it seems clear that the current Board members should be the ones to name the Superintendant for the district. The current Board worked with the past Superintendent, was involved in the development and implementation of the current initiatives, and fully participated in the national search for the new superintendent. They should be the ones to make the decision in order to finalize the work that was started during their term.