With Scott Zeidman saying “I am in absolutely no hurry,” the School Board last night selected from among three headhunting firms as the search officially began to replace Supt. Dr. Myrna Cote, who stunned the community almost three months ago when she abruptly announced her resignation from the School District.
Ironically, The Cosca Group, based in Fairfield in the Bay Area, is the company Dr. Cote contacted to find her next position, and she was directed to Pico Rivera and the El Rancho Unified School District. Perhaps Cosca’s most appealing marketing claim was that the superintendents it places retain their positions for long terms. Frank Cosca, a principal of the company, said that in recent years, the only three former clients who left their school districts went into retirement.
Which presumably means that Dr. Cote in Pico Rivera and the School Board in Culver City will live happily ever after, separately, for many years.
Popular former Asst. Supt. Patty Jaffe, a 40-year District veteran who was scheduled to enter retirement in June, until Dr. Cote’s bombshell, was, instead, chosen as the Acting Superintendent, roughly at the hour of her retirement. Hired at a $200,000 annual salary, Ms. Jaffe’s agreement, written by Mr. Zeidman, an attorney, is on a day-to-day basis. It hinges on the arrival of her replacement.
Mr. Zeidman, vice president of the School Board, was asked why a headhunting firm was deemed necessary. “I am a reasonably good attorney,” he said. “I can figure out almost any kind of case. I am not a recruiter. I might know where to advertise. But I might not know the keys to advertising, exactly what we are looking for, how to sift through it, get the right clients, how to get at least a clue about a right fit.
“We don’t want to bring in someone who never has been a superintendent before, stay for a year, and then leave again.
“You can be your own attorney, but you probably wouldn’t be. You would hire someone like me.
“I have a fiduciary duty to the citizens of Culver City to bring in the best superintendent at what we can afford to pay.”
What does “the best we can afford” mean? Corner-cutting is implied.
“I don’t know what we are going to be offering,” said Mr. Zeidman. “Myrna’s package was worth $240,000. She left for a package worth about $280,000, to a less desirable district. I don’t think anyone in the world can tell you they would rather work in Pico Rivera than Culver City.
“So how much do we have to offer to get the best qualified candidate? And can we afford that? Let’s say the best qualified candidate comes in but wants more than we can afford. We don’t take that person.”
What is the preliminary salary ceiling?
“We have to deal with the headhunter first,” said Mr. Zeidman, “to see what they think it’s going to be. Then we have to go back and talk it over. Myrna obviously was underpaid compared to other superintendents at similar sized school districts. But our staffs are underpaid, by the same comparisons, too.
“Pretty much if you work for Culver City, you are going to be underpaid now. If I have to pay market rate, I don’t know if I can. Besides, I don’t really know what market rate is. Guess who will know?”
What instructions do you hand to a headhunting company like Cosca, staffed by former superintendents?
“They agreed to our contract last night, which (Board President) Steve Gourley wrote and I reviewed,” Mr. Zeidman said. (The deal is for “a little over” $20,000, irrespective of the time it takes to land a super.) “This is the second time our Board has written contracts,,” Mr. Zeidman said. “We don’t want to spend our District’s hard-earned money on lawyers if we don’t have to.”
