COSTA MESA, NEWPORT BEACH : Search Firm Hired for School Chief

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday adopted a pair of measures intended to help the embattled district get back on its feet.

The school district, which lacks a permanent superintendent, hired the California School Boards Assn. to conduct a search for one.

The board also elected as its interim president Roderick MacMillian, a 27-year veteran of the board, to a one-year term as president, and board member James deBoom as vice president. The votes were 6-0, with board member Sherry Loofbourrow absent.

“He is a good choice for the time,” deBoom said of MacMillian. “He has the right experience to lead us through the process of (superintendent) selection.”

MacMillian, in one of his first acts as president, appointed board member Ed Decker to coordinate the search process with the company.

Within a week, the district intends to sign a contract for the search with the company’s president, Richard Montgomery. On Tuesday, the board is scheduled to hold a special hearing with the search firm to begin outlining the recruitment and selection process and the community’s involvement.

Montgomery has said that the search will take four to six months and cost $20,000. The association, which competed for the contract with two other firms, was chosen by the board for its attention to community concerns.

Montgomery “showed a real willingness and commitment to involve the community,” said deBoom. “We would rather take as much time as possible to develop a profile and then find a superintendent” to fit that profile.

The district has had to embark on the talent search after longtime superintendent John Nicoll announced his resignation in December. The Newport-Mesa school district leadership came under intense pressure from parents and teachers after it was found that the district financial officer had embezzled almost $4 million.