Carmel Unified board vote not to pursue a recruitment process for a new superintendent.

It's been a time of transition for leadership of the Carmel Unified School District. Gone in recent months are the principals of Carmel High School and Carmel River Elementary School, as well as the former superintendent, Ted Knight, who received a $770,000 payout upon his resignation. 

When Knight was placed on leave in April, Sharon Ofek, deputy superintendent, was appointed as acting superintendent. After his departure, she became the interim superintendent. 

Next for the board of trustees is to decide on a process to hire a new superintendent. 

In a 4-1 vote on Wednesday, Sept. 13, the board decided not to pursue a recruitment effort, and instead will advance Ofek's name for appointment as superintendent in the coming months. Board members expressed a desire to let the next board, after November 2024 elections take place, take the lead on hiring a superintendent, but also a desire not to keep an interim in place for over a year. 

"Our track record has not been very effective," said board member Karl Pallastrini, who advanced the proposal. "That’s on us, and me in particular since I’ve been here the longest. A different board should have an opportunity to weigh in."

(Pallastrini was speaking about three superintendents hired since 2015: Knight, Scott Laurence and Barbara Dill-Varga. Since then, Karen Hendricks and Trisha Dellis, both internal candidates, served on an interim basis.)

The board talked about the need to gather community input—something that is part of a typical recruitment process with a third-party firm, which includes stakeholder meetings and surveys. But recruitment firms can be expensive and time-consuming—and in CUSD's case, lacking in long-lasting results. 

"It’s incredibly important for me to hear from stakeholders," said board member Seaberry Nachbar. "That being said, it hasn’t necessarily resulted in great successes, and that makes me stop and wonder, well, what is going on here?"

The board indicated they would like to move forward with appointing Ofek in the superintendent role. 

"It feels like there is stability," Nachbar said "I am excited to work from Sharon to figure out some goals. I don’t think right now is the time to do a search."

At the same time, she added: "I feel strongly we should not be punting this to the next board. I think we have a lot to contribute at this point from the process we’ve been through, which has really been tough."

While Nachbar and board member Anne-Marie Rosen wavered on whether they should pass on a formal recruitment process with stakeholder input, board president Sara Hinds joined Pallastrini in offering clear direction to proceed without that step. 

"I don’t think we should be engaging in a search right now," Hinds said. "Right now we’re in a moment of some consistency and stability. I am excited about this district moving forward.

"Everyhing I’ve experienced with Sharon is a really strong leadership style that is inclusive and collaborative, and really in the spirit of bringing this district together, to head down a new, positive path."

Ultimately the board voted 4-1, with Rosen dissenting, to skip a search process and to agendize appointing Ofek at a later date in a closed-session meeting. 

"The community needs to know who is going to be the new superintendent, and they haven’t had any input," Rosen said. "We are eliminating the community from having that involvement. I think it would be doing an end run around the community to put somebody in there that we appoint."

That sentiment was echoed by one speaker from the public who stood up and seized the microphone. 

"You’re digging yourself further into a hole you’ve created where you’re not communicating," said Joe Hertlein. "You’re just completely leaving the public out."

Pallastrini and board member Jason Remynse indicated they receive public input in other, informal settings—community members talk to them at sporting events and other community gatherings. 

"I spent 24 years as a principal doing nothing but listening the community and that’s how I lasted this long," said Pallastrini, who previously served as principal of Carmel Middle School and Carmel High School. 

The only other voice in opposition came from a Carmel High School student, Marcus Michie, who currently serves as the student representative to the CUSD board, a non-voting role. "The importance of input from community, especially at a time like now—we don’t want a seemingly arbitrary decision from the board, that’s not good press," Michie said.

According to the CUSD board policy manual, "When a vacancy occurs, the Superintendent or designee shall review the job description for the position to ensure that it accurately describes the major functions and duties of the position. He/she shall also disseminate job announcements to ensure a wide range of candidates."