CALABASAS : District Plans to Hire New Superintendent

The Board of Education of the Las Virgenes Unified School District will meet Tuesday to plan for the replacement of Supt. Albert (Bud) Marley, who announced last week he plans to retire this summer, two years before his contract was to expire.

Board members will meet in closed session at 6:30 p.m. in the district office at 4111 N. Las Virgenes Road. They hope to develop a strategy to replace Marley by Feb. 15, board President Barbara Bowman-Fagelson said Friday.

Bowman-Fagelson said the district will probably hire a consultant to conduct a search.

“We could get 300 to 500 applications, and we would need somebody to screen those people,” she said. “The board members try to be as involved as they can, but that would be too much.”

Marley, said Bowman-Fagelson, is “leaving this district in a good position.”

“What we are looking for now is someone who will continue to be active in the district and the community,” she said.

Harry Knaster, another board member, said the ideal candidate would have “a proven track record in solving some of the problems we are facing.” The candidate should also be able to improve on the success of various educational programs such as the district’s noted science courses, Knaster said.

The district’s greatest challenge, said Bowman-Fagelson, is reducing class sizes.

“We have a wonderful staff, we have bright students, but one of the things that would make it better would be to reduce class size,” she said.

She said her ideal candidate would be “someone with strong administrative skills, someone who was out in the community, someone who is an academic leader and someone who has the ability to be a fund-raiser.”