The San Marino School Board has confirmed that it expects to name a new superintendent by the end of May.
The school board’s deadline is to announce its choice of superintendent by Tuesday, May 24, a date selected because the California Education Code requires that a superintendent be approved at a regularly scheduled board meeting. The board has stated its goal of having a new superintendent seated by the end of the school year.
The board met on Monday, May 2, with Joel Shapiro of the Cosca Group, the firm retained to conduct the search, to review the applications received by the April 24 deadline.
Cosca was retained by the Board of Education on March 1 to identify the successor to Linda de la Torre, who was named acting superintendent in July, following the resignation of former Superintendent Jeff Wilson, who announced in March 2021 that he would be taking a similar post at the Claremont Unified School District. (Wilson stepped down from the Claremont post on April 1.)
Cosca Group is represented by Shapiro, former superintendent of the South Pasadena Unified School District, and Jan Britz, former superintendent of the Burbank Unified School District.
Shapiro said his group held more than a dozen public meetings and conducted additional one-on-one interviews with stakeholders that include teachers, administrators, parents and community members.
The board recently reviewed the applications and video interviews that the applicants submitted and conducted in-person interviews of selected candidates at special closed session meetings on May 6 and May 7.
Earlier in the process, the Cosca Group met with approximately 45 people in stakeholder groups and individual meetings over several days, and held public town hall meetings on the matter. Approximately 75 community members participated in an anonymous online survey and provided detailed comments about what they hoped for in a superintendent.
Based on the community input received, the Board and search firm consultants developed a superintendent profile that reflected the many characteristics valued by the San Marino stakeholders.
The district’s contract with the Cosca Group is for $15,045.
