IRVINE : Trustees to Get Results of Study on New Chief

School board members will learn what residents want in a new superintendent Tuesday night when district consultants report on community interviews they conducted earlier this month.

But a decision on whether to look outside the Irvine Unified School District for a new superintendent will wait until Dec. 6, when new trustee Hank Adler joins the school board.

Two of the district’s deputy superintendents have expressed interest in replacing former Supt. David E. Brown, who left earlier this month to become superintendent of the Napa Valley Unified School District. Board members have said they may decide not to recruit candidates from outside the school district.

“It’s a decision we need to make,” said school board member Mary Ellen Hadley. “But I’m sure we’re not going to be doing that without the new board member taking part.”

The school district hired Berkeley-based Management Analysis and Planning Associates to develop a profile of the qualities community members would like in a superintendent. The firm interviewed 150 people over a three-day period and received additional comments by letter and fax.

Adler, a 48-year-old accountant and former city finance commissioner, said he is being kept in the “information loop,” though he will not be formally seated on the board until Dec. 6. He received nearly 25% of the vote Tuesday to defeat incumbent Steve McArthur, who joined the board in February.

McArthur was appointed to fill the seat of former trustee Greg Smith, who was appointed to the City Council.