Editorial Editorial (August 20, 2004)

MV-Whisman looking for a leader

Now that the shock of Superintendent Jim Negri's likely departure by the end of October is starting to wear off, officials of the Mountain View-Whisman School District need to regroup and decide how to find a replacement.

Negri was expected to accept an offer Wednesday night after the Voice deadline to become superintendent of the Acalanes high school district, which is much closer to his East Bay home in Castro Valley. Hired away from the Pleasanton Unified School District two years ago, Negri has been able to peacefully guide the 4,300-student district, formed from the former Whisman and Mountain View districts in 2001.

Negri's resignation would come at a challenging time for the district. Its scores from the just-released STAR test show little, if any improvement, a property owner has filed suit against the district's parcel tax election and two, or possibly three, new trustees will be elected to the five-member school board in November.

With the retirements of Rose Filicetti and Carol Fisher, who together have 16 years on the board, only Gloria Higgins, with two years of board experience, is running again. A former trustee, Juan Aranda, is also a candidate, along with three other newcomers.

Should Negri leave, as expected, the board will have to quickly initiate a campaign to find a replacement, a search that would begin now and end months after the induction of the new trustees in January 2005.

The district is, however, fortunate to have Assistant Superintendent Eleanor Yick, who is a viable candidate for the permanent position. As the former Whisman superintendent, many parents in the school community respect her and say they would support her as the district's leader.

Given the board's tasks this year and its own future turnover, Yick should seriously be considered as Negri's replacement, although calls for her to be hired outright without a search may be premature. Such a strategy might save money in the short term -- it cost about $30,000 to find Negri -- but with Yick at the helm as the interim superintendent, the board does have time to make a reasoned decision.

And while it is likely that Yick is the best candidate, the search cost is negligible in a district whose budget is $31.6 million. The board is responsible to find the very best candidate possible to oversee the district. It should not make a hasty decision to fill this position without first seeing who is out there.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.