School Board Urged to Find Search Firm, Then Interview Candidates

Before it picks a headhunter to help it search for a new superintendent, the Simi Valley school board wants to interview Dan Flynn, a former high school principal who lost his job after an unsuccessful bid to become chief of Ventura County’s schools.

“The issue is not the person” to be interviewed, board member Diane Collins said. “The issue is the process that has already been authored. Now it’s been undermined.”

Collins, who said she voted against meeting with superintendent candidate Flynn before a search firm is selected, said board members discussed the idea during a closed session at their Tuesday night meeting.

The problem, Collins maintains, is that community input will likely be thwarted if a search firm, which would have the role of determining community needs, is not selected first.

The board voted earlier this month to interview at least four search firms Sept. 26, but Flynn’s interview is now scheduled Tuesday.

Board President Norm Walker said there is no specific board policy requiring it to hire a search firm before interviewing superintendent candidates.

This method, he added, might prove a better deal for the district. “Why should we pay a search firm $30,000 to do what we can do ourselves?” he asked.

Walker said Flynn’s resume was just one of those that came across his desk and it was in the district’s best interest to consider a man of his experience.

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The Simi Valley Unified School District has had four permanent and two temporary superintendents in eight years.

Former Supt. Mary Beth Wolford resigned last year after numerous conflicts with the school board. And her replacement, Tate Parker, a former administrator with the Murrieta Unified School District in Riverside County, left after only five months following a fallout with the board, which neither side would discuss.

Albert “Bud” Marley, a retired superintendent of the Las Virgenes school district, is serving as acting chief of Simi Valley’s 19,400-student district.

Flynn--the father of six who is a longtime resident of Thousand Oaks--now works as coordinator of the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s Head Start program.

He was principal of Ventura County’s high schools that served troubled youths and juvenile delinquents for three years.

Flynn was a challenger in 1994 for the position held by his then-boss, county schools Supt. Charles Weis. Three weeks after capturing 48% of the votes cast, Flynn was let go by Weis, who accused Flynn of poor performance.

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Flynn, a Republican, said Weis, a Democrat, concocted a poor-performance evaluation to justify not extending Flynn’s $62,000-a-year contract. Flynn then filed a $3-million lawsuit against Weis and the county schools, and eventually received a $120,000 settlement for what he maintained was a wrongful termination.

Flynn and Weis could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Marty Bates, president of the county’s Board of Education, said he is an old friend of Flynn, a man for whom he “has great admiration.”

“He is a leader of leaders,” Bates said, citing their work on a Rotary Club youth committee. “His ideas and programs for getting things done are things that I greatly admire.

“Is he a conservative? Well, if you’re asking if he’s an extreme right-wing religious conservative, absolutely not. Is he a fiscal conservative? I believe so.”

Bates, a conservative Republican, added that he was surprised to learn of Flynn’s decision to interview with the Simi Valley schools instead of making a second bid for Weis’ job in 1998.

“I’m happy for Simi but I’ll be disappointed if [Flynn] doesn’t make himself a candidate for county superintendent.”