Community Invited to Help Select Schools Chief

The search for the new superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District is well underway and the school board is asking for the community's help.

The Newport-Mesa Unified school board is in the process of putting together a Superintendent Selection Community Interview Group consisting of 31 people in order to get information from the community.

Anyone interested in applying to be on the committee is asked to fill out an application by Monday, March 26 by 4:30 p.m. Appointments to the committee will be made at the school board meeting on Tuesday, March 27.

• The first committee group will be made up of a group of eight parent representatives. The school board will appoint one elementary and one secondary representative from each of the four high schools zones. Any parent who has a student enrolled in one of the district schools is encouraged to apply. Names will be placed into a hat by zone and grade level and appointments will be made after a drawing.

• The second committee group will be made up of community members who are not a parent of a pre-k - 12 N-MUSD student. The school board will appoint two representatives, one resident from Newport Beach and one resident from Costa Mesa. Residents who do not currently have a student enrolled in one of the schools are encouraged to apply. Names will be placed into a hat by city area and appointments will be made after a drawing.   

The selected committee members will participate in interviewing the top superintendent candidates selected by the Newport-Mesa Unified school board and can also participate in the community input process. Members must also attend an organizational meeting with Search Consultant, Dr. Robert Barbot on Wednesday, May 16 at 6:30 p.m. and the Superintendent Candidate Interviews on Friday, June 8, which will take place all day.

In addition to the committee, community input meetings have been scheduled to allow all community members to give first-hand input about the characteristics and criteria they would like to see in the next superintendent. 

"All of the information received during these community input forums as well as the online and hard copy survey that will come out next week, will be shared with the board," said Laura Boss, spokeswoman for the N-MUSD. "The professional screeners who will be screening the applications submitted by superintendent candidates."

Community Input Meetings:

• Wednesday, April 4, 10:30-11:30 a.m., CdMHS PTA meeting

• Wednesday, April 4, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Mariners PTA meeting

• Wednesday, April 18, 10:00-11:00 a.m., NHHS PTA meeting

• Thursday, April 19, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Newport Coast PTA meeting

Get more information about the search for the new superintendent here.