L.A. Unified school board meets with superintendent search firm

The Los Angeles Board of Education is meeting Tuesday evening with the firm it hired to lead the search for a new superintendent of schools. The meeting was scheduled to take place between 5 and 6 p.m. in closed session, according to one senior official, but the open session was held first.

The open session items included a discussion on the long-term budget and an accountability plan that the school system must submit to county and state officials.

Though the board has promised transparency in its search for a new leader, the first few steps have not consistently delivered on that goal.

Last month, the board held a closed-door retreat in San Pedro about the search, followed immediately by an open meeting. But the gathering place was not clearly identified in posted documents. Two members of the public managed to find it.

The board then interviewed two search firms in public at its next scheduled meeting. The winning company strongly asserted that the more secrecy, the better.

“The more confidential a search, the better the candidates,” said William Attea of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. “We want a transparent search, except for identity of candidates.”

The public notice for the Tuesday closed session is listed as: “Public Employment Appointment Superintendent of Schools.”

Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, 83, has said that he would like to step down by the end of the year. Cortines, a former district superintendent, returned from retirement to head the nation’s second-largest school system after John Deasy resigned under pressure a year ago.

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