Long Beach : Sacramento Man Offered Schools Post

E. Tom Giugni, superintendent of the 43,000-student Sacramento City Unified School District, has been offered the job of superintendent of the Long Beach Unified School District, according to sources within the Long Beach district.

Giugni could not be reached for comment, but Long Beach board president Arlene Solomon, while not confirming Giugni’s selection, said that an offer had indeed been made for the position and that the board hoped to have signed a new superintendent by “shortly after Thanksgiving.”

Board members have been tight-lipped about the selection process ever since contracting last spring with a San Francisco executive searching firm--MSL International--to scour the nation for a new superintendent. The district’s previous superintendent--Francis Laufenberg--retired from his $77,000-a-year post in July.

Should Giugni become the successor, according to district spokesman Richard Van der Laan, he would be the first Long Beach superintendent chosen from outside the district since 1937.