The search for a permanent superintendent in Oakland Unified School District is now in motion, with the school board last night choosing a firm to lead a national search.
The board voted to have the district’s general counsel Jenine Lindsey negotiate a contract for up to $150,000 with Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, an education consulting firm that has placed 76 superintendents in California over the last 10 years. According to its application packet, Hazard, Young helped Oakland hire its director of special education, deputy chief of talent, and deputy chief of facilities in 2015.
The decision was supported by school board directors Rachel Latta, Jennifer Brouhard, VanCedric Williams, Patrice Berry, Valarie Bachelor, and Clifford Thompson. Mike Hutchinson, the director representing District 4, abstained. Hutchinson has made plain his disapproval of the superintendent search process and his disagreement with his colleagues on the school board over the ousting of the last superintendent, Kyla Johnson-Trammell.
On Friday, the school board conducted interviews with the final two firms, Hazard, Young and a firm called Leadership Associates.
“Every school system is struggling in urban America,” said Micah Ali, an associate with Hazard, Young who is likely to lead the search in Oakland. “What we’ll be looking for are individuals who’ve demonstrated a capacity, aptitude, and ability to drive systemic change in school systems that are challenged fiscally, in school systems where there’s a high level of chronic absenteeism as well as significant IDEA (the national special education law) challenges.”
Once the contract is signed, the board will work with the firm to design a community engagement plan that could include town halls, surveys, meetings with school sites and central office staff, and meetings with students, labor groups, and community organizations. That input will inform the leadership profile that Hazard, Young puts together for its search.
In the first 30 days, Ali said, the firm will collect data about OUSD and its budget and meet with students and the board.
OUSD’s interim superintendent, Denise Saddler, took over in July and will remain in her seat until June 2026. In April, the school board voted to end Johnson-Trammell’s contract early. She remains employed with the district as superintendent emerita.
The move to terminate Johnson-Trammell confused the public, especially since in August 2024 the board had agreed to extend her contract by another three years. She’d been in the role since 2017. During a May press conference, Johnson-Trammell said that she and the board had different ideas about what path the district should take to reach fiscal solvency.
Hazard, Young’s proposed timeline says the firm will present candidates to the board in January and February, with a finalist selected by April to begin the transition process.
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