Fresno Unified School District trustees have scheduled a special meeting on Wednesday to interview candidates for superintendent and then could make an appointment.

Deputy Superintendent Misty Her appears to be the clear favorite to replace outgoing Superintendent Bob Nelson, who is leaving at the end of July to take a faculty job at Fresno State.

It’s unclear whether the board will interview more than one candidate in closed session, although the meeting agenda says “superintendent interviews.”

But what is known is that until Tuesday a narrow majority of the trustees wanted to only consider candidates currently working for the district, such as Her. However, in a Facebook post, Trustee Claudia Cazares stated that she now favors an open search.

Board President Susan Wittrup has advocated for at least a statewide search since Nelson said he was leaving. Trustees Veva Islas and Andy Levine also favored an expansive search.

The four who wanted to keep the selection in-house were Cazares, Keisha Thomas, Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, and Valerie Davis.

The special meeting will begin at 5 p.m., and the public will have an opportunity to comment publicly before the trustees leave the board room to go into their closed session.

According to the agenda, the meeting’s duration is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

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Parents Say They Want a Wide Search

Trustees who favor selecting a local candidate say that was one of the goals set by respondents in community listening sessions. However, some Bullard and Edison area residents said they wanted the board to widen the search to guarantee selection of the best candidate to lead the state’s third-largest and educationally challenged district.

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Until Cazares, the Hoover area representative changed her stance, the likelihood that a new superintendent would be chosen on Wednesday appeared strong, as the agenda for the April 10 School Board meeting includes discussion in closed session of appointing a new superintendent, which in the past has meant that the district and candidate have agreed on contract terms that would be announced during the meeting’s open session.

The School Board meets in the Education Center at Tulare and M streets in downtown Fresno.