Santa Clara Unified board hears HYA plan for superintendent search; board schedules slate and interviews

The Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Trustees met in a special session to hear HYA Associates’ plan for the district’s superintendent search, discuss outreach and survey strategy, and set a calendar for slate presentation and candidate interviews.

President Bonnie Lieberman, presiding, introduced HYA’s team and turned the meeting to Valerie of HYA, who said, “We truly appreciate that you found a date for us to do our planning meeting, and we're looking forward to having more conversations with you.” HYA consultant Dr. Diane Siri joined the presentation and emphasized the firm’s four-phase search process: engage, recruit, select and transition.

Why it matters: The board is replacing its superintendent and the search firm’s outreach decisions will shape which candidates apply and how well the district collects input from families, staff and community partners. Trustees repeatedly pressed for broad and linguistically inclusive outreach, and HYA confirmed it will adapt the process to the district’s needs.

HYA’s engagement plan and survey HYA proposed a multi-pronged engagement approach that includes confidential individual interviews with the board, the superintendent and executive cabinet; focus groups with district teams and representative groups (teachers, classified staff, special-education specialists, nurses, psychologists and teachers on special assignment); two open community meetings (with a Zoom option); and targeted meetings with external partners such as Mission College and nonprofit and city leaders.

HYA said the leadership profile it produces will summarize community input without identifying individual speakers and will be provided to candidates so they can assess fit. HYA encouraged the district to forward stakeholder emails and newsletters to the firm’s contact to boost survey response, and HYA staff said they will work with district communications (Jen DeRico) to push the survey link across district channels and social media.

Survey design and inclusion requests Trustees asked HYA to disaggregate survey responses by role and school level so distinct concerns from elementary, middle, high school, adult education and preschool can be identified. HYA confirmed the survey will be available in English and Spanish and said additional languages can be added at modest extra cost; the firm agreed to explore language needs with district staff. Several trustees and speakers urged special outreach to families whose parents did not finish high school and to parent organizations (PTAs/PTOs), the Santa Clara Schools Foundation, bond oversight committee members and neighborhood and Alviso community groups.

Focus groups and stakeholders Trustees asked HYA to include union leadership and labor-management groups in individual interviews (UTSC, CSEA and others named in the meeting), as well as school-site leadership teams (SLTs), parent and booster organizations, and community partners such as Mission City Community Fund and city-county liaisons. Trustee remarks stressed that some groups (for example, Alviso neighborhood organizations and certain parent groups) feel underserved and should be reached through targeted invitations and translated materials.

Advertising and recruitment reach HYA described its advertising plan: posting the vacancy on EdJoin and professional networks used by California administrators (EdCal/ACSA), plus outreach to statewide affinity organizations (California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators, California Association of Asian and Pacific Islander Leaders, California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators). HYA said the opening will also appear on the HYA website and international recruitment channels to capture out‑of‑state candidates.

Timeline and board scheduling decisions Trustees and HYA agreed on the following calendar to move the search forward: a slate presentation to the board on March 22 (slate meeting), first-round interviews on March 28–29 (9 a.m.–4 p.m. each day), and final interviews and debriefing on April 1 (scheduled 9 a.m.–4/5 p.m.). HYA said the slate meeting will include an initial open session and a closed session review of applicants and that the board will then narrow candidates for longer interview blocks. HYA urged completing board approval by April 24 if possible to avoid losing candidates to other districts.

Public comment and community concerns During public comment members of the public urged careful translation and targeted outreach to Latino and low-income families and cautioned that the engagement phase should be thorough before broad advertising. A presenter referenced local CAST scores and urged extra effort to reach parents of third‑ and eighth‑grade students whose parents did not finish high school.

Closed session and board report After HYA’s presentation the board moved to closed session to discuss public employee appointment, title superintendent (item C.1). When the board returned the public meeting, President Lieberman reported the board “received information for item C.1.”

What’s next HYA and district staff will post the leadership profile and a calendar of engagement opportunities on the district website, send a survey in English and Spanish (with additional languages possible), and coordinate targeted focus groups and invitations. The board will reconvene on the scheduled slate and interview dates to consider candidates.