The Fresno Unified School Board is postponing its search for a new superintendent until after the Labor Day weekend, when the trustees are scheduled to gather for a board retreat that will include setting student outcome goals, Board President Susan Wittrup told GV Wire on Monday.

A consultant from the Council of the Great City Schools will help the board “get on the same page” with its goals, starting with academic achievement, she said.

Goals must be set before the board can write the superintendent job description and conduct a national search, Wittrup said.

“To do a search before that would be doing things backwards,” she said. “The search isn’t going to help us if we don’t have this work done first.”

The board is seeking a replacement for former Superintendent Bob Nelson, who is serving as a consultant to the district until Aug. 1 when he joins the Fresno State faculty. Interim Superintendent Misty Her is the district’s CEO in the meantime.

The board retreat initially had been scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend but was canceled when the presenters had weather delays on their flight to Fresno.

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Coordinating schedules of the participants presented only a few two-day options, including the Labor Day weekend, Wittrup said.

Resuming the Search

The board had started the search process after Nelson announced in January that he would resign this summer but then stumbled when a majority of the board tried to limit the candidates under consideration to current employees.

After Wittrup and community leaders including city councilmembers raised objections to limiting the search, the board voted in April to cancel scheduled interviews and widen the search.

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Unlike the initial search, the new search will involve getting input from the public, Wittrup said.

“We want the public’s help in vetting the goals we set,” she said.

Trustees have been compiling lists from their regions of community members and community groups, and the board’s job will be to capture the community’s vision in what they want to see in the next superintendent, Wittrup said.