UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The board of Upper Lake's newly consolidated school district held its first meeting on Tuesday night, choosing the board leadership, the district name and discussing hiring a superintendent.
The State Board of Education gave its approval last month to election waivers needed to finalize the unification of the Upper Lake Union Elementary School District and the Upper Lake Union High School District, as Lake County News reported.
That gave Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg the go-ahead to appoint the new unified district's board.
He selected Don Meri, Mel O'Meara and Diane Plante from the elementary district board and Keith Austin and Claudine Pedroncelli from the high school district board.
Falkenberg helped lead the Tuesday night meeting, held over the course of three hours in the Upper Lake High School library.
After Falkenberg administered the oath of office, key items of business the five-member board decided included acceptance of bylaws and the decision to name the new district the “Upper Lake Unified School District.”
The board members then elected O'Meara as board president and Plante as clerk, and determined during the meeting that they would be meeting twice a month initially, on the second and fourth Tuesdays, in the Upper Lake High library.
Another key item was the discussion about selecting a superintendent.
During the meeting, Falkenberg presented four options, which he likened to lanes on a highway, for the superintendent selection process.
Those four options included:
– Lane one: Work with the current administrative staff. Upper Lake High School Principal/Superintendent Patrick Iaccino has expressed interest in the position.
– Lane two: Hire or appoint a short-term, temporary superintendent, such as a retiree.
– Lane three: Hire a consultant to act as the superintendent on an interim basis.
– Lane four: Hire Falkenberg to do double-duty in his job and as the district superintendent until a permanent hire is made.
The board also spent a portion of the meeting in closed session to discuss the superintendent hiring issue.
When board members emerged from behind closed doors just before 9 p.m., Falkenberg said there was no reportable action taken.
However, he said the board did decide to form a subcommittee to decide the next steps in the superintendent selection process.
That subcommittee will include O'Meara, Plante and Falkenberg.
Regarding the closed session decision to form a subcommittee, Falkenberg told Lake County News after the meeting that he thinks board members want to spend more time exploring the next steps.
“Nothing was eliminated from consideration,” he said.
Falkenberg said the board members want to conduct due diligence on the very critical decision of choosing the new superintendent, adding that, at this point, he doesn’t think the board is ready to commit to a permanent superintendent candidate.
The board will meet again at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22.
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