Laguna Beach to Name Schools Chief Today

A suburban San Francisco school superintendent who is credited with the success of a $30-million bond initiative there has been selected to lead the troubled Laguna Beach Unified School District.

Theresa Daem, who has been the top school official in the San Bruno Park School District for more than six years, is expected to be named to the Laguna Beach position today. Barring an unexpected turn of events, the announcement will come after school officials return from San Bruno, where they are checking Daem’s references with parents, teachers, principals and others.

If her contract is ratified at the board’s meeting Tuesday, Daem, 51, will replace Reed S. Montgomery, who was superintendent for seven months before the school board fired him Feb. 3.

Parents in Laguna Beach hope that Daem (pronounced Dahm) will be the leader who can steer the school district away from its recent history of controversies and financial struggles.

“Everybody’s been focused on solving the crises du jour,” said Jon Jenett, a longtime supporter of the schools. “I would like the district to get back to its main business of educating our children.”

Daem’s appointment caps a three-month search shrouded in secrecy but marked by quickness. The school board sought to end the leadership vacuum that began when Paul Possemato was forced to resign in August 1996 because of financial problems so acute that the county threatened to take over the district.

Daem was chosen from a group of 41 applicants, and then five semi-finalists, in a selection process headed by Leadership Associates, a professional search firm. The school board paid the San Marcos-based firm $16,500 to screen applicants and to seek out other superintendents and encourage them to apply.

A Montana native, Daem declined to be interviewed until she is officially named superintendent, but members of the San Bruno school community praised her efforts as a communicator, administrator and booster of the 2,900-student system. The Laguna Beach district is slightly smaller, with 2,500 students.

“We’re all in mourning over this,” said Amy Neofotistos, the parent of two San Bruno elementary school students.

Daem’s reputation is that of an honest and straightforward negotiator who gets along with the school board, the staff and the parents in San Bruno, said Berta Tovar, the school board president.

Daem’s most recent achievement was the passage of the April 14 bond referendum to spend $30 million to upgrade and repair the district’s seven schools. The six elementary campuses and one middle school are more than 35 years old. The last time a bond issue was approved was 1964. This time around, Daem led the community outreach effort, galvanizing parent support and working with the local newspaper to endorse the referendum.

Such victories are especially hard to achieve because state law requires two-thirds voter approval for bond issues.

Daem’s success could be a boon to the Laguna Beach district, where school officials hope to pass a similar measure within the next two years to repair the district’s four schools, especially its two deteriorating elementary schools.

But Kathryn A. Turner, the president of the Laguna school board, said Daem was considered the finalist before the referendum was approved because of her experience and her style.

“She listens more than she talks and she has a very strong interest in what the community and the faculty might have to say,” Turner said.

As Laguna Beach superintendent, Daem will head a small district that garners strong support from parents.

School officials would not say Wednesday what Daem’s salary has been in San Bruno. Laguna Beach officials said they have not begun negotiating Daem’s contract.

The district is recovering from a financial crisis that forced the ouster of several administrators and imposed salary cuts on the entire staff. The 5% salary reduction was restored in February.

The school board faces a lawsuit from Montgomery for an estimated $300,000 that he said equals the salary and benefits owed him for the remainder of his three-year contract. His salary was $95,000 annually, plus bonuses.

His short tenure will best be remembered by a two-month medical leave for reasons he still has not disclosed. Unspecified job performance issues contributed to his dismissal, board members said.

Since his firing, Barbara Callard, the principal of Laguna Beach High School, has been interim superintendent. She did not apply for the permanent position.