A total of 955 community members participated in four town hall meetings in an effort to find the next Superintendent for the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Jason Romero announced the availability of superintendent position applications and an updated timeline at the Oct. 20 CVESD board meeting. Marketing efforts are based on parent, staff and community input during the town hall meetings in determining the qualities of a desirable candidate and the creation of four questions to ask on the application.
Applications for the superintendent position are now available on the CVESD website. Digital Media Specialist for the CVESD, Aaron Chavez curated the design which includes a QR code that links directly to the application and community input given at town hall meetings.
The Search Committee casts a wide net to alert leaders of the open position. Romero published the flyer on his Linkedln account which he said to have over 4,400 followers, 90 percent of which reside in California.
“I am a huge social media fan and advocate,” Romero said. “Today as the position opened up we had over 400 people click and review. Nine of those are superintendents who shared that out to their network, so approximately 62,000 people will have at least an eye on this over the next month and a half and that was just the first day that this was launched”.
Two large color advertisements will be published on EdCal, a publication by the Association of California School Administrators, on Nov. 1 to advertise the position, application process and deadlines.
“We are super excited about our marketing and hope to cast a wide net to a lot of people. Ultimately we want the decision to be very hard and that is my goal.” Romero said.
Human Resources staff leadership, along with the Interim Superintendent Oscar Esquivel will send hand-written letters on greeting cards for candidates inviting them to apply.
The superintendent search committee, consisting of 23 anonymous members, created co-chairs and recorders which include one staff member and one parent. Romero said some of the discussions take place in the committee only and are not for public knowledge to ensure the transparency of a clear process.
Committee members reviewed town hall comments independently and held conversations surrounding priorities of schools in the west, east and within the district as a whole, that led to the formation of four questions for the application process.
“I feel confident that we are going to have some amazing people here based on your hard work. I appreciate all of the people in the search committee. I don't know who they are but it takes a lot of dedication to our kids to do that kind of service” Board member Kate Bishop said.
An AdHoc Search Committee was created with the presence of Jason Romero, CVESD Board member Francisco Tamayo, and Attorney Ruben Smith who advises the committee of the best legal practices in the process.
Confidentiality is required to ensure the validity of what the committee does, according to Romero. Search committee members signed confidentiality agreements to maintain the integrity of the process.
The next board meeting will be held on Nov. 17 where an updated timeline with more details will be presented, along with additional details surrounding the process.
