Will she?
Won’t she?
The answer to the riddle of Who Will Sit in the Chair of the School District Superintendent the Rest of This Year and in the Future will have to wait a little longer.
Ever since the almost-but-not-quite-retired Patty Jaffe was popularly selected last June as the Interim Super, there has been a buzzing undercurrent that possibly — just possibly — the 40-year veteran would be permanently retained.
Nearly seven months later, practically on the eve of the projected January naming date, Ms. Jaffe appears to remain prominently in the plans of the School Board.
But the next or climaxing development, as voted on by the School Board, is as unpredictable as the present winter weather.
The hints have been dropped in what still feels like a surreal atmosphere, as in:
Maybe she will be chosen, but first we have to survey California and review the brightest available candidates.
And then what?
With 20 resumes in hand, new Board President Scott Zeidman said this afternoon the interviewing process would start “in the reasonably near future.”
He estimated a decision will be reached within the next 60 days.
“If a new Superintendent is chosen,” Mr. Zeidman said, “it would be anywhere from two to eight weeks.”
And then he added, “assuming we pick pone/”
That conditional statement would seem to leave the door ajar for at least the possibility of Ms. Jaffe becoming the permanent choice.
“We don’t have to pick the best (of the group of 20) if the best isn’t good enough,” Mr. Zeidman said, tantalizingly.
