Superintendent Race Down to 5 Finalists

The Laguna Beach Unified School District board emerged from a five-hour closed-door meeting Sunday with five semifinalists for school superintendent.

All five candidates are superintendents or assistant superintendents in California school districts, said Steven Rabago, a school board member.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the school board will interview the semifinalists in daylong closed-session meetings.

A finalist will be selected by Friday, but he or she won’t be offered the top job until school board members and others in the school community visit the candidate’s current school district and interview teachers, parents and others there. That visit is tentatively planned for the end of the month.

The new schools chief will replace Reed Montgomery, who was fired in February after seven months in the district. Officials cited his job performance and a two-month absence for medical reasons he would not disclose.

Montgomery intends to sue the district for breach of contract for an estimated $300,000, which he calculates he would have earned in salary and benefits for the remainder of his three-year contract.