IRVINE : More Than 30 Apply for School Chief Post

With less than two weeks left before the application deadline, the search for a new Irvine Unified School District superintendent has yielded more than 30 candidates.

School board members say they hope to have a new superintendent on board by September for the beginning of the school year.

The search is conducted by Management Analysis and Planning Associates of Berkeley.

“Four or five are very qualified candidates that meet our specifications,” school board President Tom Burnham said. The board is scheduled to meet with search firm representatives May 15.

Administrators are seeking a replacement for former Supt. David E. Brown, who left in October to head a Northern California school district.

After Orange County filed for bankruptcy Dec. 6, the district initially delayed the superintendent search because of the fiscal emergency.

Deputy Supt. Dean Waldfogel was appointed acting superintendent shortly after Brown’s departure.

Waldfogel, in charge of curriculum and instruction since 1982, is the only one of three deputy superintendents who is not a candidate for the job.

Program improvement and the expansion of technology into local schools have suffered because of the financial crisis, Waldfogel said.

“Technology is absolutely critical to our graduates’ success,” Waldfogel said, “and we’ve had to put all of that on the back burner.”