NEWPORT BEACH COSTA MESA : End Near in Search for Superintendent

The search for a new school district superintendent may be concluded by next week as the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees visits the home districts of each of the three finalists, officials said.

The first district visit will begin today, the second one will be Friday and the last one Monday, said Newport-Mesa school board member Ed Decker, who has spearheaded the search.

Those visits are intended to give the seven board members enough information about each candidate to come to a consensus before Tuesday’s board meeting. But until an employment contract is signed, they will not publicly announce their choice. Decker refused to disclose where those districts are located or provide any details about the final candidates, other than to say that each are superintendents in other school districts.

The school board will be basing its decision on about seven hours’ worth of interviews with each of the finalists, information from the screening and interview committees, reference checks and visits to home districts.

This is the tail end of a nationwide search that began in December after longtime Supt. John W. Nicoll announced his retirement during the fallout from a $4-million embezzlement scandal masterminded by the district’s budget director, Stephen A. Wagner.

In February, the district hired the California School Boards’ executive search firm, which recruited 63 candidates to vie for the district’s top post.

A three-person screening committee sifted through a stack of resumes and conducted reference checks to chop that pool down to 11 candidates. A committee of 50 administrators, teachers, parents and students then conducted interviews to trim the field to eight.

The school board last week conducted a round of follow-up interviews, shrinking the selection down to the final three.

The search has thus far cost the district $24,000, Decker said, not including the cost of sending the school board members on the upcoming site visits.