ORANGE : Schools Formally Hire Superintendent

The Orange Unified School District Board of Education has formally approved the appointment of Norman Guith as superintendent of schools.

Guith signed a three-year contract for a starting salary of $109,000, an increase of about 25% over the salary received by his predecessor, John Ikerd. Benefits include three weeks of vacation and a monthly expense account of $600.

Board Vice President Russell Barrios joked that he had given Guith “as much detail as possible on the district and he still decided to take the job.”

Teachers, parents and administrators have said the new superintendent may be the key to turning around a district that has been plagued by kickback scandals, fiscal instability and union problems for a decade.

Steve McDonald, executive director of the Orange Unified Education Assn., said the teachers’ union is “anxiously looking forward” to working with Guith.

The sprawling Orange district, which serves more than 24,000 students in the cities of Orange and Villa Park as well as parts of Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Anaheim, has been without a permanent superintendent since Ikerd resigned in November.

Since 1982, Guith has served as superintendent of schools for the Alvord Unified School District in Riverside County.

He was superintendent of the Central School District in Rancho Cucamonga from 1978 to 1982 and of the Borrego Springs Unified School District in Borrego Springs from 1975 to 1978. Guith was also an elementary school teacher and later a principal for Garden Grove Unified from 1962 to 1971.