Board Member critical of Superintendent Search
by Ariel Carmona Jr.
June 2005
Chino- The ongoing process for finding a new superintendent for the Chino Valley Unified
School district has been criticized by one board member who feels it perpetuates a recent lenient
attitude towards getting board approval for contracts.
“There have been incidents, I’m not talking about sporadic incidents, often involving
personnel and contracts where we get the item for approval six or seven months after the event has taken place,” said School Board Member John Pruitt.
“There are also incidents where field trips were presented the day before departure
or after the event has occurred. I realize our district is a huge corporation with multiple business
matters, but we are talking about routine matters,” added Pruitt.
Pruitt said he thinks the district continued this trend by signing a contract with the
Cosca Group (a search firm specializing in these matters) on April 7, which would pay them to find
a replacement for current Superintendent Frank Infusino who will retire on June 30. without the
board’s final approval.
Board President Bobby Grizzle had no comment regarding Pruitt’s contention that the board
never voted to hire the consulting firm. “I don’t want to comment about that because I believe that
Mr. Pruitt’s comments to the newspaper were wrong,” said Grizzle.
Pruitt has gone on record saying the board voted to select the firm at its March 17
meeting but did not authorize a contract at that time and that he disagrees with some of the
elements in the contract which has yet to be approved by the board. The contract was not in
the agenda for the board’s latest meeting of May 19.
“The proposal by the Cosca Group outlines a fee payment schedule for three payments.
One of those proposed payment is for creating a brochure. I don't believe the district should be
paying over $9,000 for a brochure that benefits the Cosca Group to do their job. By the way,
over 90 percent of our high school students can create a brochure. The Board has had four board
meetings. And here we have a signed contract that has not been presented for board approval,”
said Pruitt.
“If Mr. Pruitt thinks that the staff and students of this district should be doing that,
[making brochures] that is his own opinion, He has his own personal agenda, that typically is not
the process of a search firm,” Grizzle said.
Board member Michael Calta says the Cosca group is putting together a brochure listing
a profile for the district including its goals and they have the professional experience and expertise
to do a good job.
Regarding the vote to hire the search group initially he said, “In my mind sitting there I
believed I was voting for the Cosca group. The only question at the time was whether they would
be interviewing internal candidates.
He adds the Cosca group was not the only firm contacted. Calta says several firms were
contacted but the Cosca group was the only one which responded affirmatively. “I believe there is
a shortage of superintendents, a lot of them are retiring,” Calta said.