Ventura District Prepares to Seek New Schools Chief

Ventura school trustees are gearing up to find a replacement for Supt. Cesare Caldarelli after the embattled administrator’s decision to accept a new job.

Caldarelli had been the top candidate for superintendent of the Bensenville Elementary School District in suburban Chicago for several weeks and his official acceptance of that position was announced to the Bensenville board on Wednesday.

“He has accepted the position,” said Kathleen Bossier, the board’s vice president. Caldarelli is scheduled to take over the reins of the 2,000-student district on Sept. 1 and will be paid $94,900 a year, Bossier said.

But by late Thursday, Caldarelli, who has two years remaining on his contract, still had not officially notified board members of his resignation, Trustee John Walker said.

Caldarelli did not return calls to his office, but one Ventura High School administrator said Caldarelli visited the campus Thursday morning to bid the staff goodby.

Walker, who has clashed with Caldarelli on several occasions, called the superintendent’s behavior strange.

“Maybe he wants to leave town very quietly,” he said.

With classes scheduled to resume in the Ventura Unified School District in less than three weeks, board members will have to move quickly to find a replacement, Walker said. The board is expected to discuss the issue Tuesday.

Trustees have several options, including naming an interim superintendent and hiring a consultant to perform a professional search for a new district chief, Trustee Terence Kilbride said. The board members may also decide to screen and interview candidates themselves to save money, he said.

Walker said he favors naming one of the district’s two assistant superintendents as interim superintendent for the entire 1992-93 school year. Administrators would be required to take on a heavier workload, but it could save the district $100,000 in the coming year, he said.

No matter what option the board chooses, it will be hard to attract a superintendent because the new schools’ chief will have to make a difficult decision on how to control the spiraling cost of retiree benefits, Walker said.

The $3.5-million annual premium continues to rise and threatens to bankrupt the district unless retired employees agree to contribute toward the premium’s cost, Walker said. A new superintendent would have to negotiate those unpopular concessions, Walker said.

“I’d rather get that issue cleaned up and then welcome a new superintendent next year,” Walker said.

Caldarelli was not able to find a solution to that problem during his four-year tenure, but was successful in placing the district on more solvent ground by implementing measures that angered many teachers. He was able to remove a clause in the teachers’ contract that guaranteed that they would not take a pay cut and added one that requires them to take greater financial responsibility for retirement benefits of new teachers, Kilbride said.

“Those are the things we asked him to do and I think he did a good job getting them done,” he said.

But those actions infuriated teachers, who voted no confidence in him two years ago. Many employees faulted Caldarelli for having a dictatorial management style and an inability to communicate clearly his goals and intentions.

Teachers’ union President John Gennaro said while he wishes Caldarelli the best in Bensenville, there are many in Ventura who will not be sorry to see him go.

“I think he made mistakes early on and was never able to recover from them,” Gennaro said. “That will be his legacy.”