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David Taub Website photo 2024
By David Taub, Senior Reporter
Published 7 years ago on
June 7, 2018

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Central Unified could hire a new superintendent as soon as Saturday (June 9).
The school board will hold a special morning meeting with a sole item: discussing the superintendent in closed session.
A source with knowledge of the situation tells GV Wire that approximately five candidates will be interviewed, and one will be hired by the end of the meeting.

Board President: Won’t Hire Leader on Saturday

However, board president Cesar Granda said that the Saturday session is for interviews only.
“We are not hiring on Saturday,” he said.
Granda would not say how many candidates the board will speak with, but he expects a long closed session meeting.
Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Jack Kelejian would only confirm that interviews are taking place.
Central has been without a permanent superintendent since a split 4-3 board fired Mark Sutton on Feb. 27. Granda never revealed why the board terminated Sutton. An examination of nearly 1,000 pages of public documents by GV Wire did not shed light on the reasons either.
The following week, the board hired Assistant Superintendent Kelly Porterfield as interim superintendent.

Some Parents Frustrated

Parents rallied around Sutton, vowing to punish the school board members they felt responsible for his dismissal. They formed Central Community United PAC hoping to change the board and reinstate Sutton.
The PAC is gathering signatures to recall two members: Richard Solis and Phillip Cervantes. Their terms expire in 2020. Although Cervantes voted to keep Sutton, recall advocates say that he was part of the effort to get rid of him.
The Fresno County clerk’s office says those signatures are due back for verification June 19 and July 19, respectively.
Three other board member in the PAC’s crosshairs — Granda, Rama Dawar and Ruben Coronado — are up for re-election in November.

Accelerated Timeline

Sutton supporters urged the board to wait until after the November elections to hire a new superintendent.
In April, the school district announced a proposed timeline that would lead to the hiring of a new superintendent by July. This meeting Saturday appears to accelerate that date.
This could lead to a potentially awkward situation if voters replace the board hiring a new superintendent in an election months later.
The meeting is 8 a.m. at the Central High School west campus cafeteria (2045 N. Dickenson Ave., Fresno). The board will take public comment before the closed session.

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David Taub,
Senior Reporter
Curiosity drives David Taub. The award-winning journalist might be shy, but feels mighty with a recorder in his hand. He doesn't see it his job to "hold public officials accountable," but does see it to provide readers (and voters) the information needed to make intelligent choices. Taub has been honored with several writing awards from the California News Publishers Association. He's just happy to have his stories read. Joining GV Wire in 2016, Taub covers politics, government and elections, mainly in the Fresno/Clovis area. He also writes columns about local eateries (Appetite for Fresno), pro wrestling (Off the Bottom Rope), and media (Media Man). Prior to joining the online news source, Taub worked as a radio producer for KMJ and PowerTalk 96.7 in Fresno. He also worked as an assignment editor for KCOY-TV in Santa Maria, California, and KSEE-TV in Fresno. He has also worked behind the scenes for several sports broadcasts, including the NCAA basketball tournament, and the Super Bowl. When not spending time with his family, Taub loves to officially score Fresno Grizzlies games. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Taub is a die-hard Giants and 49ers fan. He graduated from the University of Michigan with dual degrees in communications and political science. Go Blue! You can contact David at 559-492-4037 or at Send an Email

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