After two recent separations with a superintendent and deputy superintendent, the Palo Alto Unified School District board is set to host a special meeting to evaluate prospective search firms 7:30 p.m. today at the district office.
The district on March 19 appointed Herb Espiritu as the temporary acting superintendent.
According to the PAUSD BoardDocs page, three firms used to find superintendents — Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates (HYA); Leadership Associates; and McPherson and Jacobson — will give presentations at the board meeting tonight.
PAUSD Board Vice President Rowena Chiu said the district hopes to secure an interim leader by April 21 and hire a permanent superintendent by the fall of 2026.
“Herb Espiritu will be acting superintendent for a temporary period of time just to give us a bit of space to find an external interim superintendent,” Chiu said. “We’re hoping to find a permanent superintendent by the fall of 2026 so that we can start our new school year with a permanent superintendent.”
Chiu said the board meeting today could bring more voices into the discussion on picking the new superintendent.
“Although there’s no expectation that the board will make a decision, maybe they will if it’s very obvious,” Chiu said. “The meeting on March 30 is an opportunity for people within the community, parents, students and teachers alike to come and listen to the presentations from the various firms and to voice an opinion on it that hopefully will be taken to account as the board members make their decision.”
Before selecting a firm, the board had to decide on a search method. While Chiu said she advocated for a Request for Proposals method to ensure transparency, the majority of the board chose a solicitation model to speed up the timeline.
“I believe the majority of the board opted for solicitation because they thought it was faster and more efficient, and they were concerned about time constraints,” Chiu said. “Given that we’re in solicitation, which isn’t something I voted for, I believe the board president said at the last meeting that we solicited seven search firms and four of them declined to give us a proposal. That means the remaining three will give us a proposal.”
Chiu, only speaking for herself as an individual trustee and a district parent, said that she is looking for three qualities when picking the next superintendent — the first being collaboration.
“I would like to see the new superintendent genuinely reach out to parent groups, student groups and teachers,” Chiu said. “The idea for me of collaboration is that we would find a leader who would reach out to all these different groups who represent different interests.”
Chiu said empathy is another value she is considering in the next superintendent.
“Empathy is really closely connected to collaboration,” Chiu said. “Even if we [PAUSD leaders] cannot give them [the community] what they want, I think being able to genuinely understand a different perspective from your own and to help make people feel heard, even if you don’t agree with your position, is hugely important.”
The final value Chiu is considering is transparency, which she said is especially important to reduce fear.
“Change is always hard for us as human beings, and if information is not given, people fill the gap for themselves and they sometimes assume the worst,” Chiu said. “Transparency is really important to make different stakeholders feel that we are collaborating with them and that we are empathetic to their concerns.”
Chiu said the district’s next leader will be stepping into a role recently held by the district’s longest-tenured superintendent, Don Austin, who served for eight years.
“PAEA [Palo Alto Educators Association] called for a cultural reset,” Chiu said. “This is an opportunity for our district to change things. Once there is a change in leadership, there often is a cultural change and it would be interesting to see how that [PAUSD’s] culture shifts.”
