Saratoga News

Education

Parents, teachers want to help search for new superintendent

By Michele Leung

Parents and teachers who feared they would not be able to help in finding a new superintendent for the high school district will be part of the process after all. An advisory committee will work alongside the board of trustees in hiring a replacement for Superintendent Cindy Ranii.

Ranii recently announced she will step down from her post at the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District because of her diminished stamina, the result of a viral inflammation last summer. When the new superintendent is hired, Ranii said she will act as an adviser to ease the transition. She will retire at the end of the 2006-07 school year, completing a decade with the district.

At its June 6 meeting, the board of trustees agreed to use Leadership Associates, a search firm, to find suitable candidates for a new administrator. The firm does not disclose who the potential candidates are, except to the board.

"They believe confidentiality yields more applications," said trustee president Phil Nielsen.

However, teachers asked to be involved in the search process, which should include all stakeholders, they said.

"The process needs to be very transparent," said Saratoga High School teacher Amy Obenour, president of the district's teachers association.

Parent Madeleine Morrow said forming an advisory group was very helpful for the Saratoga Union School District trustees when they hired Lane Weiss, the superintendent for the elementary school district.

"This advisory group represented the diversity of the community very well. There was buy-in from parents that they were being heard," she said.

Trustees agreed a collaborative approach would work well.

"The community has to be a part of this," said trustee Ron Adolphson.

According to Nielsen, the search firm is open to working with an advisory committee. The trustees met June 8 in a second public meeting to discuss the role of committee. The group, which will be asked to sign confidentiality agreements, will be made up of administrators, teachers and parents. It will interview the top candidates and give its observations and recommendations to the trustees.

The trustees were to meet again in public session June 9 to vote on the use of an advisory committee.

Some parents were concerned the board was moving too fast and that potentially all the best candidates would have taken new jobs. Nielsen said while it may seem the board is moving fast, it has to begin the search process at some point. The board hopes to hire somebody by the start of the new school year.

In other board news, the trustees held a public hearing on the 2006-07 district budget. The projections show the district is in a reasonable financial state. It will benefit from an 8 percent increase in property values from last year.

Special education, a government-mandated program, is an area the district has to cover with its own funds because it doesn't receive adequate government money. For the 2006-07 school year, the district will spend $1.9 million on special education, about half of the total cost.

The trustees have asked the district to look into ways to conserve energy at both high schools in order to control the costs. Next year, the energy cost is $1 million, up from $875,000 this year.

The board is set to adopt the budget at its June 20 meeting.

"We're not in a tenuous position," Nielsen said. "We're dong a lot better than other districts."

In facility news, the board heard a proposal to rename an area at Saratoga High School that encompasses the bleachers, the football field and the track to Reyes Park, after Greg Reyes, a graduate of the school and a former football player and alumnus. Reyes has been a benefactor of the field renovation project and has agreed to donate $290,000 to fund the field lights. The board is required to meet three times before voting on renaming a facility. The third meeting was to take place June 9. The football field will remain Benny Pierce Field.

Additionally, the tennis courts at Los Gatos High School will be resurfaced and new lights will be added. The district and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation will each put in $15,000, and the balance of the $115,000 project will come from private donations..