Position Title: Merced Union High School District

Salary: Competitive and Negotiable

Closing Date: March 31, 2008

Downloads:

• Job Application
• Job Brochure

The Position

The Board of Trustees of the Merced Union High School District is seeking an outstanding educational leader as its next superintendent. The successful candidate must be a visionary and experienced leader in all aspects of the district’s operations.

The successful candidate will be someone committed to being highly visible and involved in the Merced, Atwater and Livingston communities, schools and district work sites. The ideal candidate will have a successful record of improving student achievement at the high school level and experience working with an ethnically and socio-economically diverse school community.

The Community

Merced County, known as the “Gateway to Yosemite” is centrally located in the state and less than a two-hour drive to San Francisco, the ocean at Monterey, the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Yosemite National Park and the state capitol in Sacramento. The district serves three cities, including Merced, Atwater and Livingston, as well as a variety of small communities nestled in between. Located on a 20-mile portion of Highway 99 in the northern San Joaquin Valley, the district serves an area with a total population of approximately 110,000.

The University of California Merced campus, opened in 2005, provides new educational and economic opportunity, adding to the already established growth of the region.

Mission Statement

“We educate and empower all students to become 21st century learners, workers and citizens.”

The District

Merced Union High School District serves the high school students of three communities. Merced is the home of two high schools, Merced High and Golden Valley High. Atwater’s high school students are educated at Atwater High and Buhach Colony High School. Livingston’s students are served at Livingston High School. A sixth comprehensive high school is currently in the planning stage and will be located in Merced.

In addition, our district serves many students through our alternative education program. East Campus Educational Center, located in Merced, is the home of our Adult School, Independent Study and Continuation High School Program. Each of our schools utilizes technology across the curriculum in supporting student learning. Students are engaged in a rigorous, standards-based education. Each school has a widely developed academic program, including advanced placement courses, vocational education, special education, visual and performing arts and English learner programs. The district has nationally recognized agriculture/FFA programs.

Golden Valley High School is a national AVID demonstration site and was recognized by Newsweek as one of the Top 1,300 high schools in the country. US News and World Report awarded Golden Valley High and Livingston High Silver Awards and Atwater High a Bronze award as the best schools in the nation. Livingston High School has also been recognized as a High Achieving Title I school and for a High Achieving, High Minority, High Poverty School Achievement award. Yosemite Continuation High School is a state model continuation high school. The district API for 2006 is 678.

Believing that balance is an important aspect of our student’s lives, we offer a wide variety of athletic programs, clubs and community service organizations.

MUHSD serves a diverse and dynamic student population of 10,673 students that includes 52 percent Hispanic, 26 percent Caucasian, 5 percent African-American, 16 percent Asian and one percent other students, which include a relatively large Punjabi population. Our students are served by 583 certificated and 437 classified employees. The district has a general fund budget of $95,817,000.

Please visit our district Web site at www.muhsd.k12.ca.us to learn more about our schools and district.

Selection Criteria

The following criteria represent standards to be used in the evaluation of applications and in the selection of the superintendent.

Professional Experience and Preparation

• Master’s degree and Administrative Credential Required
•  Doctorate degree desirable 
• Superintendent or assistant superintendent experience highly desirable
• High school principal or other district level experience required
• Classroom teaching experience required

Personal Characteristics

• Exhibits integrity, sincerity, compassion, courage and forthrightness when working with others
• Has excellent listening and communications skills
• Is a “people person” who is easily approachable and accessible to parents, staff and community members
• Is a team builder who uses a collaborative approach to problem solving
• Accepts responsibility, holds staff and self accountable and follows through on commitments
• Is highly visible and active in the community, schools and worksites
• Is sensitive and responsive to the educational needs and concerns of ethnic, cultural, special needs and socioeconomic groups
• Has a high level of energy and motivation; is proactive, organized, with a strong work ethic and professional demeanor

Professional Skills and Abilities

• Is a curriculum and instructional leader with a commitment to academic excellence and a record of increasing student achievement, and success in closing the achievement gap
• Has strong leadership skills and is a person with courage who is willing to take risks to achieve educational excellence
• Is a visionary leader with a clear direction of where the district might go and what the district might become; has the ability to articulate the vision, incorporate other points of view, build a consensus to support it and to decisively lead the district
• Will work openly with the board to ensure that the governing board receives appropriate, timely and accurate information, advice and recommendations necessary to make informed decisions
• Has the ability to manage the district’s finances, facilities and resources in a responsible manner
• Is an enthusiastic and energetic team builder who recognizes the abilities and contributions of all district staff
• Is a decisive leader who makes sound, difficult decisions and takes responsibility for those decisions; able to make the tough decisions
• Has the ability to build partnerships with local government, community businesses and higher education to provide additional resources and programs for the district
• Supports student programs, including vocational education, special education, ELD, GATE, extracurricular and sports programs
• Has the ability to create a positive climate in employer/employee relations and effectively negotiate collective bargaining contracts
• Has the ability to select, motivate, train and retain outstanding staff members
• Supports the increased use of technology in instruction and in district and school site management
• Has experience in successfully managing enrollment growth, facilities and construction needs and running a school bond campaign
  

Application Procedure

All applications will be held strictly confidential. Each applicant is requested to follow the procedures listed below. Those applicants wishing additional information should contact the CSBA adviser at (916) 669-3297. For duplication purposes, please do not bind application materials.

Applications are to be sent to:
Merced Union High School District
c/o Dr. Wendell Chun, Adviser
California School Boards Association
Executive Search Services
3100 Beacon Blvd., Suite Merced
West Sacramento, CA 95691

All applicants must provide the following items by the closing date, March 31, 2008 (5:00 p.m.), to be considered:

• A completed Application Information Form. (Please complete as instructed; do not complete by stating “see attached résumé”.) The Application Information Form and brochure may be downloaded via CSBA’s Web page at www.csba.org/es.
• A personal letter of application stating reasons for interest in the Merced Union High School District superintendent position.
• A résumé providing biographical background information about educational preparation, experience and achievements.
• A placement file and/or five (5) current letters of professional references describing the applicant’s performance in previously held positions.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to arrange to have placement papers or reference letters forwarded in time to meet the March 31, 2008 (5:00 p.m.) deadline. Additional brochures may be requested by calling the CSBA 24-hour Brochure Request Line at (916) 669-3296.

Selection Procedure

A professional screening committee will evaluate the qualifications of each applicant. The board and the screening committee will use the described criteria during the screening, interviewing and final decision-making process. After receiving and studying the report of the screening committee, the board will select and interview the top candidates.

Both the board and the Superintendent Search Advisory Committee (SSAC), consisting of staff and community members, will interview the selected candidates. After the interviews, the SSAC will report to the board the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the candidates.

The board will select candidates for the final interviews, conduct the interviews and select the superintendent. Any applicant who contacts a board member with the intent of influencing the board’s decision will be disqualified.

Travel expenses for those candidates selected for the initial interview will be the responsibility of the candidate. Interviews are tentatively scheduled for May 9, 10, and 11, 2008.

Salary and Contract Terms

The Merced Union High School District Board of Education will offer a salary of competitive and negotiable salary, plus fringe benefits to the successful candidate, based on that individual’s experience and qualifications. The board intends to offer a multi-year contract.

It is the candidate’s responsibility to provide the district with employment eligibility and verification of citizenship in compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act.

Board of Education