L.A. school board to hold second round of interviews for superintendent
L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, left, confers with school board president Steve Zimmer at district headquarters. The board on Sunday interviewed one or more candidates to replace Cortines, who wants to retire at the end of the year.
(Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday will begin its second interview session with candidates seeking the job of superintendent for the nation’s second-largest school system.
The closed-door meeting is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. And board members also could conduct interviews — or a discussion about the potential leader — at the end of the day, after two unrelated meetings are held to handle other business.
“The board is approaching this with both the intensity and the focus that a decision that stands to affect so many children mandates,” board President Steve Zimmer said Sunday.
The first interview session took place Sunday, and if it is any guide, the public will learn little from these meetings until the board makes its choice.
Except for brief periods to open and close the meeting, the entire gathering took place out of public view, and no announcement was made at the conclusion.
About seven candidates initially are being considered from a pool of more than 100 brought forward by a search firm; their names have not been released.
Besides taking place Sunday, the most unusual aspect of the first meeting was that, after beginning in open session for one minute, board members then moved to the 63rd floor of the U.S. Bank Tower to conduct interviews.
Zimmer declined to say why the closed session moved to another location. But observers speculated that the purpose was to frustrate any effort to spot applicants on their way in or out of district headquarters, which is practically deserted over the weekend.
After meeting for eight hours in private, board members returned to headquarters, reconvened in open session and adjourned. Board members also have set aside time next Sunday and on several other days this month.L.A. school board holds its first interview for job of superintendent - LA Times:
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