Board Holds Closed Session on Hiring of Schools Chief

School trustees grappled with a controversial decision over hiring a new superintendent in a 90-minute closed-door meeting early Tuesday night.

Simi Valley Unified School District board members ended that meeting and convened their regular public session, however, without deciding to hire Dan Flynn as the district’s next school chief. Board President Norm Walker announced trustees would go back into closed session later in the evening.

Trustees have been split 3 to 2 over Flynn, a former juvenile-court school principal in Ventura County who now works as a Head Start coordinator in Los Angeles County.

Residents at the meeting also were divided over whether to hire Flynn now or wait until a nationwide search can be conducted. Of more than 100 who submitted cards to the board on the issue, about half were in favor of his appointment.

Rob Levine, a Los Angeles County educator who used to work with Flynn in Ventura County, told trustees he is a man of “unlimited love, who can bring people together.”

But Sinaloa Middle School teacher Bern Allen said those qualifications are not enough. Hundreds of people care about children, coach sports teams and raise families, he said.

Some in the audience said the real question is not whether to hire Flynn, but whether the board can unite to agree on a new district superintendent.

“This is not an issue of Dan Flynn,” said Alan Coyle, head of the local California School Employees Assn. chapter, a union that represents non-teaching employees. “I don’t care if you hire Mickey Mouse. But this is not a dictatorship, folks. We elected you.”

The disagreement began after Flynn, a 45-year-old Thousand Oaks resident, sent his resume directly to Walker, who brought him before trustees for an interview before starting a national search.

Critics, including two trustees, say the hiring procedure was improper and that Flynn is not qualified to head the county’s largest school district.

Trustees Carla Kurachi and Diane Collins said the school chief should have substantial top-level administrative experience--a qualification Flynn lacks.

As a Head Start administrator, Flynn helps monitor a budget of $115 million for the nonprofit program that serves 18,000 children. He has a doctorate in education but has never held top administrative posts, as do most superintendents.

Simi Valley’s prospective schools chief has a controversial history with Ventura County. He lost his job as principal of a juvenile-court school in 1994 for what county schools officials said was poor performance.

Flynn, who had just lost an election bid to become county superintendent of schools, called it political payback. He filed a wrongful termination lawsuit and settled for $120,000.

Trustees began looking for the district’s seventh superintendent in seven years after buying out the contract of Tate Parker, who held the job just five months. The job is now held by interim Supt. Albert “Bud” Marley, who came out of retirement to lead the district.