Menlo Park City School District Zeroes In On New Superintendent

Members of the Menlo Park City School District Board of Trustees are narrowing in on the candidate they will soon elect as the new superintendent to replace Ken Ranella, who will retire at the end of the school year.

Board President Maria Hilton said the board members, with the help of a search advisory firm, have whittled down 27 qualified applicants down to three finalists.

The next step in the process is for one preferred finalist to visit Menlo Park sometime during the last week of April, or in early May.

While visiting the finalist will meet with leaders in the school and community abroad, in hopes that will confirm the qualities shown and referenced in the thorough vetting process that has taken place after Ranella announced his retirement in January, said Hilton.  Hilton declined to state who the final candidate may be, but confirmed they were from California.

The board members have elected to keep the hiring process closed to the public because they are offering the job to candidates who are currently employed in other districts.

In an effort to make the job more desirable to applicants who do not want to face repercussions at their current workplace for applying to a different job, the board has promised confidentiality to increase candidates' comfort, said Hilton.

She said the board is hoping that, if everything during the upcoming visit goes right,  it will be possible to close the contract negotiations in a timely fashion that will allow a formal introduction of the district's new superintendent at the board meeting May 10. Hilton also said it is possible an informal announcement may take place earlier.

Final candidates were asked to give their written responses to a prompt drafted by the school board members that questioned how the candidate would react to a leadership challenge if they were hired as the new superintendent of the . Hilton said this an extra step in the hiring process that a candidate may not encounter if they applied at a different district.  And she said that the answers gave the board additional insight into how the potential superintendent solves problems and the characteristics that make up their leadership style.

"It gave dimensions beyond standard references and gave us an opportunity to see the aspects that are important to our community," Hilton said.

Hilton said though this is the first superintendent she has had to hire as a board member, she has found the process interesting and refreshing.

Though California public school districts are facing financial challenges imposed by the state government's inability to pass an annual budget, Hilton said it is nice to speak with candidates who are not discouraged by the difficult circumstances executive officers must handle.

"To see people who are in education because they want to do the best they can for kids, I find it really rejuvenating," Hilton said.

And though may be in better financial footing than other similar districts in different parts of the state, Hilton said the quality of candidates is such that they are still looking for challenges to improve local education, should they be hired.

"We didn't get candidates that were looking at Menlo Park as a place to coast, even though we are less turbulent than other place, we just didn't see that kind of response," Hilton said.

And she said that though replacing Ranella, who has been with the district for the past nine years, initially seemed like a daunting task she's come to look at finding the new leader for local schools an exciting process.

"Change can be a refreshing thing,"Hilton said.