Newport-Mesa Names New Superintendent

After a four-month nationwide search, the troubled Newport-Mesa Unified School District on Friday hired the school superintendent from Little Rock, Ark., but trustees were sharply divided in choosing the district’s first new top administrator in 22 years.

After Cloyde McKinley (Mac) Bernd was hired in a 4-3 vote during a brief meeting Friday morning, he told the assembled teachers, principals and administrators that he “will give nothing but my 100% effort to make this district the best in the nation.”

Bernd, who was superintendent in the San Marcos School District in northern San Diego county for six years and then held the same post in Little Rock this past school year, was chosen over another finalist, Jerry C. Gross, an area superintendent in the Long Beach Unified School District.

However, some trustees thought the district was hiring the wrong man to the $104,000-a-year post.

“It was an agonizing decision,” said trustee Martha Fluor, who, along with Judy Franco and Edward Decker, voted against Bernd. “We got a starkly contrasting picture of him” from former colleagues in San Marcos.

“I don’t think he is the right man for the district at this time,” Fluor said, declining to elaborate.

Although the three dissenting trustees shied away from discussing specific reasons for opposing Bernd, they indicated that concerns about his reportedly tough management style were raised by officials in San Marcos. Trustees also spoke with school officials in Little Rock during the screening process.

“I felt some of his qualities were not as desirable as other candidates’,” Decker said.

But some of Decker’s concerns about Bernd served as selling points to other trustees.

“I think he has the spark to bring this community together,” said trustee Sherry Loofbourrow. “He can really connect with people, publicly and personally.”

Trustee Forrest Werner said: “He sets high goals and demands excellence from the people around him. . . .”

The district, which includes 23 schools and 17,500 students throughout Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, began its search in January, a month after longtime superintendent John W. Nicoll announced his retirement, citing ill health.

Nicoll stepped down as the district was under heavy criticism from parents and teachers outraged by the $4-million embezzlement of the district by its then-budget chief, Stephen A. Wagner. Wagner has since pleaded guilty to the embezzlement charges and is awaiting sentencing.

Since then, the district has tried to recover its credibility with the community by involving parents, teachers, administrators and residents in selecting a new superintendent.

Sixty-three applicants from 20 states applied for the Newport-Mesa job, and after the resume-screening committee and a 50-member interview committee narrowed the field to eight, trustees talked with colleagues in the home districts of the final two candidates before making a selection.

The district hired Bernd for $104,000, which is $6,000 less than he made in Little Rock, where he was responsible for overseeing 53 schools and 26,000 students. Although the new superintendent doesn’t begin his new job until July, Bernd spent most of the day Friday visiting district schools.

A motorcycle lover who rides a Harley-Davidson, Bernd grew up in Colorado and has degrees from the University of Colorado and the University of Northern Colorado. He began his career as a social studies teacher and a coach of football, wrestling and track at a Colorado high school. He took the San Marcos job in 1986.

Bernd is married and has a 26-year-old daughter, who is a dental hygienist in Denver.

The 49-year-old educator said in an interview that he has make decisions that created enemies.

“In my experience as a superintendent, I have had to make decisions that were not popular,” he said.

For example, Bernd was forced to lay off bilingual aides and “cut into the flesh of the system” to balance the San Marcos School District budget in his final years there. Some Newport-Mesa trustees suggested they were concerned by reports from some former colleagues in San Marcos that Bernd pushed two principals into retirement and shifted a third into another job.

But despite budget constraints, student CAP scores in San Marcos under his tenure improved faster than in any other district in California.

While in Little Rock for less than a year, Bernd logged a lot of time in Arkansas courtrooms as the courts sought to take control in desegregating schools there.

“I spent more time in the courtroom than I did in the classroom,” Bernd said Friday. Even after taking over in Newport-Mesa, he may be forced to fly back to Little Rock to testify in the legal battle.

“That is very frustrating for an educator,” said Bernd, “and is exactly why I came here.”

Profile: Cloyde McKinley (Mac) Bernd

Born: October, 1943

Marital status: Married with one child

Military service: Sergeant, Army

Education: Doctorate in education, 1975, University of Colorado; master’s degree, political science/sociology, 1970, University of Colorado; bachelor’s, degree, social science/psychology, 1967, University of Northern Colorado

Most recent jobs: Superintendent of schools, Little Rock School District, Little Rock, Ark., 1992 to present; superintendent of schools for San Marcos Unified School District, San Diego County, 1986-92

Hobbies: Marathon runner and avid reader