ORANGE : District Seeks Help of Hiring Consultant

The Orange Unified School District Board of Education will act this week on two fronts to fill some of the vacancies within the administration.

Board members will vote Thursday on hiring a consultant to help in their superintendent search and will accept resumes this week for acting superintendent, according to board President Maureen Aschoff.

The superintendent job has been open for more than two years, and the board lost its interim superintendent when Marilyn J. Corey resigned in April.

The 26,000-student district serves Orange, Villa Park and sections of Anaheim Hills, Garden Grove and Santa Ana.

Gretchen Hanson, acting superintendent and assistant superintendent for educational services, told board members in May that she will leave at the end of June to marry and move to the Redding area.

David Reger, president of the Orange Unified Education Assn., said he is sorry to see Hanson go. “She leaves a big hole,” he said. “Will we get an assistant acting interim superintendent? How far will we carry this thing?”

The teachers union is concerned about the lack of continuity on the board, Reger added.

Board members hope to alleviate some of those worries Thursday night when education consultant Rudy Gatti presents his superintendent search proposal.

Gatti, who is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, first offered his proposal to launch a nationwide search to board members in a closed session Thursday. His fee for the search will not exceed $11,000, he said.

Gatti will continue advising the superintendent for a year after he or she is hired, Aschoff said.

Gatti was referred to the board by Lee Newcomer, the last education consultant to search for a superintendent.

The board, which also needs to find an assistant superintendent, hopes to use staff vacancies that have beset the district as a lure to prospective candidates.

“The new superintendent who comes in will have the opportunity to fill key positions in the Cabinet,” Aschoff said. “That’s an incentive for someone to come into Orange.”

The board will interview candidates for acting superintendent next week, Aschoff said.

Eight candidates have applied so far, and Aschoff said she is pleased with the quality of the applicants, most of whom come from within the county.