Schools Chief Search Process to Resume

The search for a new superintendent to head the county’s largest school district will resume Tuesday night.

Trustees of the Simi Valley Unified School District will review seven search-firm proposals and are expected to choose at least one of the companies to interview at their next board meeting Sept. 9, interim Supt. Albert “Bud” Marley said.

The goal is to hire a firm in September. Marley has been filling the void for the 18,400-student district since Tate Parker resigned in June.

Beginning in September, most of the board’s search process will be closed. The search firm will spend about a month interviewing educators, faculty members, the mayor, Police Department, residents and others, Marley said.

If all goes according to plan, an official vacancy announcement will be posted in newspapers and professional journals by October, with the cutoff date for applications set for November. The screening process and interviews in the prospective new superintendent’s own community could be finished by Thanksgiving, Marley said.

A new superintendent could be heading the district by Jan. 1, Marley said.

Until then, the 65-year-old retired superintendent plans to stay, though Marley hopes the search moves quickly.

“I promised my wife that I would only do one of these [interim jobs] a year. I was hoping the post wouldn’t last more than six months,” he said.