Irvine Unified board hires Leadership Associates to run superintendent search

The Irvine Unified School District board voted to hire Leadership Associates to conduct the district’s superintendent search after presentations from two firms and an extended question-and-answer period. The special session began with a closed-session report that the board had discussed terms of the interim superintendent contract and the search process, followed by public presentations from Leadership Associates and Education Support Services (ESS).

Leadership Associates’ presenters — Peggy Lynch, Michael (first name only, present at the meeting), and Dennis Smith (remote) — outlined a search process built around community input, multilingual surveys, focused recruiting and candidate vetting. “We promise to bring you a deep pool of diverse candidates and highly qualified candidates,” Peggy Lynch said during the presentation. The firm highlighted leadership-development services they said improve retention and asserted that roughly 85% of superintendents they help hire remain in post for five years or longer. Dennis Smith added, “This will be your search,” emphasizing the board’s role in shaping candidate criteria and final selection.

ESS, represented by Suzette Lovely, Stephen Keller and Kelly Morris, described a smaller “concierge” model that focuses on fewer searches each year but emphasizes local Orange County knowledge and a hands-on, transparent process. “We are a smaller firm, and we offer what we call concierge level services to our clients,” Suzette Lovely said, stressing tailored stakeholder engagement and a leadership-profile document intended to guide both recruitment and the incoming superintendent’s first months. ESS offered a detailed EAST framework (Engage, Activate, Select, Transition) and recommended validation visits and third-party due diligence for finalists.

Board members and student representatives pressed both firms on practical matters: how each would identify Irvine’s distinct needs, how input would be collected and disaggregated (students, classified and certificated staff, parents, community partners and language groups), confidentiality around candidate materials, and an estimated timeline. Both firms proposed a process that would gather stakeholder input, develop a leadership profile, recruit broadly and present recommended slates for the board to interview; Leadership Associates described a roughly three-month timeline from initial planning to finalist interviews, and ESS proposed a similar schedule that could lead to a July 1 start date for the new superintendent.

During deliberations, several trustees complimented both teams’ preparedness and materials. Several board members said Leadership Associates’ statewide recruitment network, leadership-development work and a written proposal that included an Irvine connection gave that firm an edge. A motion to approve a consulting contract with Leadership Associates and conduct the superintendent search on behalf of the Irvine Unified School District was made, seconded and approved by voice vote; the chair announced the motion passed.

Next steps outlined during the presentations include the board’s planning workshop with the selected firm to develop the leadership profile and stakeholder engagement schedule, advertisement of the position, candidate screening and, if desired, validation visits for finalists. The public record in the special session did not include contract terms or a dollar amount; those details will appear when the contract is brought forward for execution and future board action if required.