IRVINE : 3 Firms Considered for Superintendent Search

The school board Tuesday night narrowed to three the number of executive recruiting firms bidding to assist in the search for an Irvine Unified School District superintendent.

The school board will review proposals from three educational consulting firms to conduct an assessment of the 21,500-student school district.

School board members want to survey district employees and community members before deciding whether to conduct a nationwide search to replace Supt. David E. Brown, who is leaving in November to become superintendent of the Napa Valley Unified School District. Two of the district’s deputy superintendents have expressed a preliminary interest in replacing Brown, according to school board member Tom Burnham.

The three firms are Educational Management Services of Thousand Palms, Management Analysis and Planning Associates of Berkeley and Witt/Kieffer Ford Hadelman & Lloyd of Irvine. They will make half-hour presentations at a public meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the school board meeting room.

The selected firm will conduct community forums to identify the top educational issues for the district and determine what “personal attributes” community members want in a new superintendent, according to Burnham. Only after results from the community surveys are compiled will school board members decide whether to seek candidates outside the school district.