Re “Lesson in Thrift: Will the School Board Deposit $40,000 in a Sewer?”
School District sources said this afternoon the new Interim Superintendent is likely to be announced at the School Board meeting one week from tonight.
The choice is among a modest pool of candidates, believed to be three to five men and women, retired types, presumably, attracted to a six-month gig.
Lamont Ewell, the Interim City Manager for the past 76 days, is the quintessential model in the imprecise field of emergency hires. He has earned lavish praise for stepping into a messy scenario and restoring order, cleanly, effectively, quietly, faster than a fingersnap.
Dr. Myrna Rivera Cote, Superintendent for the past 3½ years, announced 2½ weeks ago she was leaving at the end of this month to start a new assignment in Pico Rivera.
If the prediction of having a temporary successor in place by June 22 comes true, the Board, which has been criticized for incoherence, and which has been blamed for Dr. Cote’s surprise resignation, will have essayed a mild comeback.
The charge that the School Board has slow or downright lazy in efficiently pursuing an Interim Superintendent this month is not only false but malicious, a District authority said. “Remember that Myrna resigned on the weekend of Memorial Day,” the woman said. “It may not have seemed to some people, but things moved along smoothly. By the fourth business day after her announcement, the Board had obtained a proposal from a hiring consultant.
“The Board, I can tell you, took the attitude that it had 27 days to make a decision. With many people pushing against them in a hurry-up mode, they agreed that this was no time to hire the first person who comes along, whether that is in-house or an outsider.
“Even though the person will not be permanent, and probably for six months, they feel they still need to use all of the time that is available to them.
“This is like finishing a test really quickly,” the woman continued, “and then not bothering to double check. What if there is someone out there who would be better for the District than an impulsive choice? That would be doing the District a disservice.
“Half of June is left. That is the way their thinking runs. Whomever they choose probably is not going anywhere the next two weeks. It is not as if the Board is worried about losing the person to another district.”
Finally, she said that the charge that the revenue-hungry Culver City district would spend $40,000 with a headhunter firm for a temporary hire is wrong. The cost is half of that figure.
