Firm selected to lead search for next Folsom Cordova superintendent
The Folsom Cordova Board of Education on Saturday selected the firm Leadership Associates to assist in the Board’s search for a new superintendent.
During a special meeting in which members reviewed proposals from three search firms, Board members voted unanimously to enter into a contract with Leadership Associates for $25,500. The firm has conducted more than 325 searches on behalf of California school boards since the group’s founding in 1996.
Deborah Bettencourt, Folsom Cordova’s superintendent since 2010, announced last week that she will retire at the end of the current school year.
The Board will hold a public study session with the search firm on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 5 p.m. at the FCUSD Education Services Center to review the search process, discuss next steps for gathering input from the community and staff members, and propose a final timeline.
The Board will incorporate the feedback collected on qualities and characteristics desired in the new superintendent to develop a position description, which will be used to recruit candidates.
In its proposal, Leadership Associates said it expects to recommend several highly qualified candidates from an anticipated field of as many as 30 applicants. The search firm said 85 percent of the superintendents they have recruited have stayed on the job for more than five years. As part of its contract, Leadership Associates will conduct a new search at no cost if FCUSD’s new superintendent leaves the post within two years.
Two former superintendents will serve as lead consultants in the search: Richard Fischer and Sally Frazier, Ed.D. Fischer served 19 years as superintendent of the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, Lake Tahoe Unified School District, and the Harmony Union School District. He is also a member of the El Dorado County Board of Education. Frazier was elected Madera County Superintendent of Schools for six four-year terms.