HUNTINGTON BEACH : Outside Hiring Plan Argued by Trustees

Ocean View School District Trustee Tracy Pellman touched off a controversy among her colleagues this week by proposing that they consider applicants from outside the district for top administrative jobs.

Pellman, one of three members elected to the school board last November, argues that an open hiring policy would attract better-qualified officials and more minority applicants for the district’s top posts.

The proposed policy would apply to the hiring of assistant superintendents, district directors, principals and assistant principals. Separate guidelines are being considered for the hiring of a superintendent.

Ocean View currently has no policy governing the hiring of any of those positions, except principals.

The issue of hiring policies has become an issue this fall, one year before the district enacts a sweeping grade-level reconfiguration plan. Under that plan, two schools will be closed and four others will be converted to middle schools. The introduction of middle schools to the district means that Ocean View for the first time will be hiring assistant principals.

District officials typically hire administrators based upon the guidelines pertaining to principals, Supt. Monte McMurray said.

Although that policy does not preclude the consideration of applicants from outside the district, in recent years the district has specifically sought only district employees to fill administrative vacancies, he said.

“I feel extremely strongly about having an open policy,” Pellman said. “I want the most qualified person for the job. That person may be in this district, I don’t know. But I can’t look the public in the eye and say I know that’s true unless we (also) look outside.”

Other board members failed to back Pellman’s request to immediately pursue such a policy, igniting a heated, 90-minute debate at Tuesday’s board meeting among trustees and audience members. Parents and other district activists spoke in support of Pellman’s recommendation.

“You have purposely kept minority applicants from administrative positions, and I refuse to believe there are none,” said parent Arnold Alvarez, who for years has criticized the district’s efforts in teaching minority students and hiring minority employees.

Trustees Carolyn Hunt and Sheila Marcus said they are hesitant to adopt the open policy because district employees may view it as a threat to job security, which they believe may hurt morale. Board President Lottie Hobbs and Trustee Carol Kanode said they also have reservations about the plan.

By the end of the debate, however, board members agreed to consider a revised version of Pellman’s proposal after they receive additional information. District staff members are scheduled to poll other districts and study state laws before the board’s next meeting Oct. 15, when trustees will reconsider the policy.