PV district searches for PV district searches for (March 31, 2004)Corte Madera principal

** Trustees decide to hire consultant to find a match for middle school, community.

By Marjorie Mader
Almanac Staff Writer

The Portola Valley school community is moving forward to find a new principal for Corte Madera School following a community meeting when many parents protested or questioned the departure of Principal Ed Winchester. He was hired in February 2003, but apparently the district decided not to renew his contract, and he resigned effective June 30.

Many parents also supported Portola Valley School District Superintendent Anne Campbell, who did not give a reason for the decision because personnel matters are confidential.

At the March 24 school board meeting, trustees decided to hire a search consultant to lead the process to hire a principal for the district's grade 4-8 school. They chose this option instead of an "in-house" search process, using district personnel, which has been followed since 1987 to hire the past seven principals and one interim principal.

Last year, the board took this different approach in hiring a new superintendent. The board retained executive search consultant and former Portola Valley superintendent Del Alberti to lead the search process, which brought Ms. Campbell to the Portola Valley district from the Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary School District.

Ms. Campbell said last week there's a growing commitment on everyone's part to come together, move forward, and find the right principal for Corte Madera.

She presented to the board a "skeleton of a plan" as a starting place to begin the search.

Ms. Campbell listed "substantial successful middle school experience, preferably as a principal" and "understanding the unique needs of a 4-8 grade school configuration" at the top of the list of skills, attributes and qualities that the future principal should possess.

The principal should have a "strong commitment to academic excellence and to cultivating success for all students," the plan says. In addition, the principal should have the "facilitation skills required to involve shareholders (children, teachers, staff, parents, community) effectively" and "leadership skills," according to the proposed plan.

Developing a detailed hiring profile, providing opportunities for community input, and carefully crafting a job description are keys to a successful search, said Ms. Campbell. A competitive and customized compensation and benefit package also should be developed, she said.

After receiving many e-mails, letters, phone calls and visits from community members, and listening to opinions expressed at the community meeting at the Town Center March 15, Ms. Campbell said she learned "there are a variety of opinions out there."

"People need to feel they're listened to and to know you will use your best judgment and do what you need to do," she said. "We need to look at polarization in a positive way to help us as a school community to communicate with each other so that everyone is dealing in a respectful way. This is a conversation that needs to happen, and the school becomes stronger because of it."

A successful search requires an active recruiting effort, not just advertising, said Ms. Campbell. She proposed extensive reference checks on candidates and a multi-faceted interview process. One suggestion is to invite a small group of finalists to meet in the district with some community representatives.

The proposed timeline for the search is: first, identify the search strategy; in April, develop the hiring profile, seek staff and community input, advertise, and prepare the interview committee; in May, screen applications, and do reference checks, interviews, and site visits; in June, appoint the new principal.

Support plan

Ms. Campbell said developing a support plan to help ensure the new principal's success is a key component. While the district has an evaluation process for administrators, she suggested adopting a new procedure. Another possibility is providing additional office and administrative support and/or a liaison to grades 4 and 5. Coaching and mentoring also were suggested.

Ms. Campbell is preparing a summary of the March 15 community meeting that will be mailed to parents. "There will be some issues we can't address because we need to be respectful of personnel considerations," she said.

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