Huntington Beach School District Will Take Its Time Filling Top Jobs : Education: Officials don’t expect to have new superintendent or two other high-level administrators by fall.

The Huntington Beach City School District will not rush to replace Supt. Diana Peters and two other top-level administrators whose resignations were announced Wednesday, officials said Thursday.

Hiring such administrators “is a very time-consuming process,” said school board President Sherry Barlow. “I don’t think it’s feasible to (fill the vacancies) by the beginning of school. . . . And we want to do this right.”

Board members insisted they are confident the district will run smoothly under Gary Burgner, the district’s assistant superintendent of financial services, who will take over as interim superintendent. The district’s other two assistant superintendents, Ronald Brown and Becky Turrentine, will be leaving their posts within a few weeks.

Peters will be stepping down on Tuesday. Barlow declined to discuss what qualities she wants in a new superintendent, but Trustee Robert Mann said his main concern is hiring a district leader “with a focus on the programs that directly affect the students and a focus on employee morale.”

There was some talk Thursday about why Peters’ resignation, which the board said was due to “philosophical differences between the board and the superintendent,” comes less than nine months after the trustees voted to extend her contract through June, 1993.

“Why is it that these philosophical differences have popped up all of a sudden? Has something changed about (Peters’) managerial style?” wondered Merle Moshiri, a four-time president of the district’s Parents and Teachers Assn. and parent of an incoming eighth-grader. “We haven’t seen any difference. If there are these managerial problems with her, why haven’t we heard about them before?”

Jim Harlan, executive director of West Orange County United Teachers, an umbrella union that includes the Huntington Beach Elementary Teachers Assn., said he was delighted with the news that Peters will be stepping down on Tuesday, “and I think the board deserves some credit for that.”

But, he added, “I know people are asking, why is it that last year they extended her contract, and this year they (force her out)? I think that’s an excellent question, and I think there will be a backlash from parents on this.”

Peters and trustees refuse to discuss whether she resigned under pressure from the board, saying their agreement reached during a series of closed-session meetings precludes them from disclosing the details.

Consequently, board members have refused to explain why they praised Peters in extending her contract last November, but now say that differences have arisen.

Mann on Thursday acknowledged only that Peters’ departure has been in the works for at least several weeks. “It was not a sudden decision,” he said, declining to elaborate.

Although the teachers’ union has considered Peters the chief stumbling block in labor negotiations during her four years in charge, Harlan said her departure does not mean the union will endorse board President Barlow or trustees Patricia Cohen and Mann, who are seeking reelection Nov. 6.

“Just because the superintendent’s gone doesn’t mean that all the problems are solved in the district,” he said. “If (trustees) hire someone like Diana again, then we’re right back where we started from.”