Trustees Name Official to Head Simi Schools for 30 Days

Less than a week after it forced the resignation of Supt. Dan Flynn, the Simi Valley school board on Tuesday appointed an in-house administrator to lead the district for 30 days until another interim schools chief can be found.

Kathy Scroggin, assistant superintendent of educational services, was unanimously selected as the emergency replacement until Simi Valley Unified School District trustees meet next Tuesday to determine how to search for their eighth superintendent--either interim or permanent--in just over seven years.

Dave Kanthak, assistant superintendent of business services, said that while Scroggin acts as the top administrator of Ventura County’s largest school district for the next month, the board should hire a search firm to locate candidates to serve as interim superintendent for five or six months while it conducts a similar process to find a permanent schools chief.

“They can’t rush into this again,” said Kanthak, who had acted as superintendent since Flynn left last Thursday. Kanthak leaves the district Friday for a new job in a Riverside County school district.

A hand-picked candidate of the board president at the time, Flynn was the only person interviewed during the search preceding his hiring. Faced with the threat of a negative performance evaluation, Flynn resigned three months after being hired on a divided vote.

Trustees Carla Kurachi, Diane Collins and Janice DiFatta voted to accept his resignation, saying they didn’t trust aspects of Flynn’s educational agenda and his inexperience with the district’s budget.

Trustees Norm Walker and Caesar Julian, who along with DiFatta voted last fall to hire Flynn, last week voted to keep him, arguing that the 45-year-old superintendent had not had enough time on the job to prove himself.

Before Flynn, Albert “Bud” Marley served as interim superintendent for about four months, filling in after the departure of Tate Parker, who led the district for six months. Trustees, who dismissed Parker for undisclosed reasons in June 1997, bought out his contract for $81,000.

To avoid forced resignations or costly buyouts in the future, Kanthak suggested the board conduct a thorough search process to find the right leader for the job.

To ensure success, a superintendent search should include input from the community, parents, teachers and students, Kanthak said.

In addition, the new superintendent must know how to handle Simi Valley school district’s $150-million annual budget and have “extensive, successful experience in management of personnel, instruction, curriculum and budget,” he said.

Kanthak told trustees that they could find an emergency superintendent from a list provided by School Services of California, a search firm for school administrators, or from the Assn. of California School Administrators. But he suggested the board instead elevate an in-house administrator for one month.

In other matters Tuesday, the board voted to hire Nancy Mason, a former assistant principal in the Los Angeles Unified School District, as principal of Madera Elementary School. She will succeed Karyn Cryster, who was chosen to become principal of Wood Ranch Elementary when it opens this fall.