SIMI VALLEY : Choices for School Post to Be Discussed

Simi Valley school board members will hold a closed meeting tonight to discuss interviews conducted with five candidates for superintendent of Ventura County’s largest school district.

The board interviewed five men last week for the $97,000-a-year job, including Associate Supt. Allan W. Jacobs. Officials would not disclose the names of the other candidates or discuss the content of the interviews.

“I’m extremely pleased and very impressed with the candidates,” board member Lew Roth said. “It’s a major decision. We want to make sure the person is right for the children and right for the district.”

Leland Newcomer, a consultant hired by the district to help with the search, said the board has not yet decided who will be hired as superintendent. Tonight’s meeting at district headquarters will allow board members to discuss the interviews, leaving open the possibility of a second round of talks with some of the candidates, he said.

Once the board has agreed, two of the board members will talk to representatives at the candidate’s workplace and in the community to reaffirm their decision.

Board members plan to announce their decision at an Oct. 15 meeting.

The superintendent’s job became available last month when former Supt. John Duncan left the 18,000-student district to become head of the San Ramon Valley School District. Associate Supt. Cathi Vogel has been running the district in the interim.