2 School Systems Hire New Chiefs : Carlsbad, Del Mar Select New District Superintendents

After months of searching in which hundreds of applicants were considered, the Carlsbad Unified and Del Mar Unified school districts announced Tuesday that they have found replacements for their respective school superintendents.

A Placerville school superintendent, Rob Harriman, accepted the top position in the Del Mar Union district, while Thomas Brierley, South Pasadena’s school chief, will head the Carlsbad Unified School District.

Each will assume his new duties July 1.

Harriman replaces Patricia Horkan, who announced in December that she would not attempt to renew her school district contract, which expires June 30. She had been under fire from both teachers and parents prior to her resignation from the two-school elementary district.

Horkan has not announced her future plans nor commented publicly on whether open discontent among Del Mar elementary teachers and parents prompted her resignation six months ago.

Twice last year, the Del Mar Teachers Assn. passed “no-confidence” votes against Horkan and presented 71 grievances to the school board, many of them citing Horkan’s unresponsiveness to teachers’ grievances.

About a month before Horkan resigned, parents submitted a 163-signature petition to the board asking for Horkan’s removal.

Brierley replaces Philip Grignon, who left the 4,743-student Carlsbad district March 1 to become the top official in the South Bay Union School District in Imperial Beach. James Stark, Carlsbad’s district controller, has served as interim superintendent.

A poll taken by the Carlsbad Teachers Assn. last summer indicated that, of 136 instructors, only six supported Grignon. A nine-month stalemate in contract negotiations between the district and the teachers’ union was settled in April--after Grignon’s departure.

Carlsbad School Board President James McCormick

said Tuesday that trustees had decided unanimously over the weekend to select Brierley, 49, after a five-month, nationwide search because “he is a phenomenal man--the motivator and people person we’ve long been looking for.”

“Here is a man who gets high marks from everyone, from principals and students on down to janitors and cafeteria workers,” McCormick said. “Not only that, high school test scores in his district have consistently been outstanding and his administrative experience is impressive as well.”

Brierley will be paid $64,000 annually--about $6,000 more than his current salary--under a four-year contract, McCormick said.

McCormick said Brierley’s reputation as an affable and “incredibly personable guy” was a particularly appealing quality given the problems that clouded the Carlsbad district during Grignon’s stormy three-year tenure. Grignon’s controversial, authoritarian management style alienated teachers, who once picketed with “Philbuster” signs while trustees voted on whether to extend his contract.

“Our high school has been sort of neglected in the past few years and we need someone to go in there, work with the staff and do some reorganizing,” McCormick said. “Dr. Brierley has a doctoral degree in secondary education, and with (South Pasadena High School) scores consistently in the 95th percentile on (state) tests, it’s clear he knows what he’s doing.”

In a telephone interview from South Pasadena Tuesday, Brierley said he is “looking forward to managing a growing, changing district.”

“I’ve been working in a district with declining enrollment, so the thought of building a new elementary school is an exciting one,” Brierley said. He said his top priorities would be to “get to know everyone” and establish a “team approach to problem-solving.”

Brierley joined the 3,400-student South Pasadena district 12 years ago as a junior high school principal. In 1977, he was named assistant superintendent for instruction; four years later he became the five-school district’s top official.

When he’s not working, Brierley plays guitar and sings in a country western band.

In Del Mar, School Board President Katherine Tanner made the announcement of Harriman’s selection following a 35-minute closed door session of the board that chose the elementary school administrator by a 5-0 vote.

Tanner said Harriman was selected from among 180 applicants as ‘the one who most closely met the criteria which the board had drawn up.’ She said that the decision was made after four of the 5-member board went to Placerville to visit the candidate and his 550-student 8-grade school district last Wednesday.

She said that the board has yet to negotiate a contract with the new administrator but that he would be offered a three- or four-year contract at a salary of about $53,000 to $54,000 a year, the salary level of the outgoing superintendent.

Tanner said Harriman was one of a dozen finalists interviewed for the position of superintendent of the 730-student, kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school district.

She said he has 17 years’ experience in school administration, serving as a principal in the La Canada Unified School District and the Cupertino Union School District before becoming superintendent of the Placerville elementary school district.

Harriman, who holds a Ph.D. from University of the Pacific in Stockton, headed the International School in Lusaka, Zambia, in the early 1970s.

Harriman, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, is married and has two college-age children. His wife, Sandy, is an elementary school teacher.