South Lake Tahoe community weighs in on desired characteristics of next superintendent

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - As the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) begins their search for a replacement for the retiring superintendent the people tasked with finding the right candidates are reaching out to the community.

What is being developed from public meetings and an online survey will create the profile of what makes up the desired characteristics neede or the person who will move into Dr. James Tarwater's position when he retires in June 2020.

During Monday's LTUSD board meeting, Rich Fischer and Rich Thome of Leadership Associates guided the trustees through not only the process of defining the best characteristics in the superintendent but also identifying the strengths and challenges of LTUSD.

The ideal candidate will be a critical thinker, a good and effective communicator, a collaborator, be transparent, an innovator, a bridge-builder, a visionary and have integrity, according to the Board. That candidate will also be a leader and support employees, kids, parents and stakeholders, and someone who will become part of the community.

"It is important they stay on the path of equity," said Board President Larry Reilly on getting test scores and opportunities equal for all students. The Board also wants a mutually agreed upon vision and to build upon successes already accomplished.

Fischer and Thome took these characteristics among the dozen other desired attributes and will combine them with what they learned through meetings with staff and the public on Tuesday.

The two men said the more people who are involved, the better they can get the best superintendent for South Lake Tahoe.

Besides building the perfect candidate profile, Fischer and Thome also had people identify the strengths and challenges of LTUSD from weather and a large number of low-income earners to lack of housing and aging schools.

The online public survey ends on Friday, November 22 and can be found here - For the online survey in English, CLICK HERE. For Spanish, CLICK HERE. A superintendent search webpage has also been created for updates.

After the Friday deadline, Leadership Associates will combine all replies both in-person and online and open up the application process for those interested in the position. They will have a January 2, 2020 deadline for applications and bring back the list of applicants to the LTUSD Board meeting to their February 3 meeting. They will select who they want to interview and by February 10 they expect to begin those interviews with a possible person hired as superintendent as early as their March 10 meeting.

Fischer said the LTUSD job opening is already on people's radar and that he has already heard from seven people who are current superintendents elsewhere that are interested in the position and have asked for applications.