SACRAMENTO, CA – Sacramento City Unified School District is engaged in a series of seven town halls to seek community input on what qualities the Board of Education should consider in hiring a new superintendent. In addition, the district is using its website to conduct an online survey and is posting comments from the town halls on its website. The fifth town hall will be held at Will C. Wood Middle School tonight – Wednesday, March 8. A sixth town hall will be held Thursday, March 9. Both meetings are scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m.

The SCUSD Board of Education began its search after current Superintendent José Banda announced in January that he would not seek renewal of his three-year contract. Banda was hired in July 2014 to lead the district of 43,000 students and 4,200 employees. Sacramento City Unified is one of the oldest public school districts in California and has seventy-seven K-12 and adult education campuses. Banda’s contract ends June 30.

More information about the superintendent search process including a link to the survey, comments and the town hall schedule may be found at http://www.scusd.edu/superintendent-search. Community residents are urged to take the survey through March 17 which is also the deadline for superintendent candidates to submit their applications to lead California’s 13^th largest school district by population.

Board members have said their objectives during the search process are to:

• Listen to community members and gather their input on the desirable qualities of a superintendent for SCUSD.

• Be inclusive and ensure that a broad and diverse group of stakeholders is reached out to and asked to participate in the process.
• Explain how community input will be used during the hiring process.
• Educate the community on the important role of the superintendent.
• Share community feedback gathered from the 2014 superintendent search process and determine whether that feedback still applies today.
• Be transparent about the board’s hiring process and timeline.

WHO:                          SCUSD Board of Education members, students, teachers, parents, community leaders

WHAT:                        Community town hall to gather information about desired characteristics of new SCUSD superintendent

SCHEDULE:                  Will C. Wood Middle School Cafeteria

                                         Tonight, Wednesday, March 8, 2017; 6-8 p.m.

6201 Lemon Hill Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95824

              AND

                                         Luther Burbank High School Cafeteria

                                         Thursday, March 9, 2017; 6-8 p.m.

                                         3500 Florin Rd., Sacramento, CA 95823