Burbank Unified launches superintendent search, sets outreach, survey and March interview window

Burbank Unified’s Board of Education opened a special Jan. 8 meeting to begin a public superintendent search and hear plans from Education Support Services consultants Dr. Michael Matthews and Dr. Roger Rice. Matthews said the process will be public where appropriate and that the district and consultants will publish a landing page and weekly updates so the community can follow the search.

"It's important that this be in open session," Matthews told the board, explaining the consultants’ intent to gather public input while protecting candidate confidentiality where required. Dr. Rice said the consultants will compile a leadership profile from surveys, focus groups and interviews and then use that profile to encourage the strongest candidates to apply.

The consultants proposed a short, focused survey and two in-person community forums with a simultaneous Zoom option, and recommended translating outreach materials into Spanish and Armenian and providing ASL for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants. Board members pressed for clarity in survey language — asking that "facilities" be defined to include custodial, bond oversight and maintenance — and suggested adding fiscal experience and an item about effective change management or "change agent/innovator" to capture whether a candidate can drive systems-level change.

Matthews and Rice said the job posting would go live the day after the meeting and described a multi-step selection timeline: an initial online posting window, a roughly two-week survey period, a closed-session review of applicants the week of Feb. 23, and a full-board interview day planned for the weekend of March 7, with deliberations continuing March 8 if needed. Matthews said the consultants will tier applicants, perform credential, degree, financial and social-media background checks, and provide the board with summary materials for fair, consistent interviews.

Consultants recommended that the board sign confidentiality agreements to protect applicants and preserve a broad candidate pool, and they offered optional post-hire transition support for the new superintendent. The board recessed to closed session later in the evening and returned without action; the meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m.

What happens next: the consultants will post the job, launch the survey and schedule public forums; the board expects to receive applicant packets in late February and to hold candidate interviews in March.