School board closes in on search for superintendent

by Robb Fulcher

The city school board is meeting this week to interview five finalists for the superintendent's post, after winnowing through a field of more than 25 candidates.

"We have a very good group," school board member Cary Bichlmeier said on Monday. "It's a group of diverse age, from all over Southern California. I think we have a winner with any one of the five."

Bichlmeier declined to say whether any of the candidates works in the South Bay or has roots here. He said board members were "hoping to make an offer" to their final selection perhaps late this week.

The board was scheduled to meet in closed session all day Thursday for the interviews. The state's Ralph M. Brown Act allows school boards and other public entities to exclude the public from discussions regarding personnel matters, although the act requires the board to meet again in open session to make its final selection.

The school district used the headhunting firm Leadership Associates in its search for a permanent replacement for former Superintendent Alan Rasmussen, who left in January to take the top position in the larger Merced, Calif. school district.

Rasmussen's post has been filled on an interim basis by retired Redondo Beach Superintendent Bev Rohrer.

Rohrer retired from the Redondo Beach Unified School District in July 1997 after battling chronic fatigue syndrome, a viral condition, for more than a year. She continued to serve as a consultant to the Redondo district and took a post as visiting professor at Pepperdine University, advising students doing fieldwork in school administration.

Rohrer has been working half time to guard her recovered health and to stay within the restrictions upon her retirement benefits from the Redondo district. She is receiving about $24,000, which is half the salary that Rasmussen was paid for a six-month period. ER