MPUSD to interview 8 candidates Friday and Saturday for superintendent's job

From a pile of 27 candidates, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District trustees decided they want to interview 8 people come this weekend.

Board President Curt Parker said Wednesday he was pleased with the semi-finalists, who represent a wide variety of experiences and backgrounds.

“They are all highly qualified, it was amazing. They also represent a lot of ethnic diversity. We’re very pleased with the quality” of applicants, he said.

Once a candidate is selected, the next step will be to negotiate his or her salary, Parker said. With Shepherd, trustees included health care and other compensation in her salary, compensation that’s typically calculated separately, which inflated her pay and made the community angry.

“People didn’t want to hear about it,” he said. “But it’s still early, right now we don’t know who’s going to be.”

So far, trustees are following pretty faithfully a timeline set out for them by the consultant, which means the district could have a new superintendent by the end of April.