County board deadlocks on superintendent’s replacement

The Merced County Office of Education governing board likely will hold a special meeting to decide how to choose the next superintendent of schools after it couldn’t settle on outgoing Superintendent Steve Gomes’ transition plan.

Gomes, who announced his early retirement last month, presented to the board two transition options at the board’s regular meeting on Monday: interview Los Banos Unified’s Superintendent Steve Tietjen as his replacement or conduct a competitive process for the top education position in the county.

The board split over the two options. Trustees Fred Honore and Tom Bates voted to accept Tietjen as the recommended replacement. Trustees Chris Chavez and Gloria Honey voted for the competitive process. Trustee Dennis Hanks was absent from the meeting.

The time and date of the special meeting has not been set.

Gomes said he talked to several people about who to recommend for the position and was looking for someone who would run for re-election in 2018, something Tietjen assured him he would do. Gomes, in his recommendation, noted Tietjen’s expertise in curriculum and career technical education.

“He brought technology to (Los Banos Unified),” Gomes said. “He’s passed school bonds. He’s built schools. He was superintendent of small schools, so he understands how important county services are to small schools.

Honey said the decision was one of the most important ones the board would make, and she preferred a competitive process.

Honore disagreed, saying he believes Tietjen “fits the bill.”

Bates noted that Tietjen started in Los Banos in 2007 in “extraordinary times” around the time the economy tanked.

In Los Banos, Tietjen led the successful 2008 campaign for a bond measure to build Pacheco High School. Part of that funding also is being used to build a new junior high school in Los Banos. The junior high project has been controversial because of the district’s choice of contractor and funding methods.

Tietjen has worked in education for more than 30 years, starting as teacher and coach in Visalia in the 1980s. Tietjen earned his doctorate in education from the University of Southern California in 1993. Tietjen also has teaching experience at the university level.

If trustees accept Gomes’ recommendation in the special meeting, Tietjen would be publicly interviewed at the board’s April meeting.

If the board chooses to conduct a competitive process, candidates would be publicly interviewed at the April meeting.

The candidate the board chooses would become deputy superintendent for the remainder of the year and essentially shadow Gomes to learn his position before being officially appointed in January.

The county superintendent of schools is elected, serves a four-year term and supports the financial and academic stability of the programs, schools and school districts in Merced County. Requirements to run for the position include being a resident of the county and having an administrative credential.

The board also unanimously accepted Gomes’ resignation at Monday’s meeting.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 6:39 PM with the headline "County board deadlocks on superintendent’s replacement."