Ex Merced City Schools trustee picked to help in superintendent search, amid some pushback

The Merced City School District Board on Monday hired one of its own former members to assist the district in its search for a new superintendent.

Adam Cox’s local firm Sectaris Partners was selected by the board over McPherson & Jacobsen and Illinois-based Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates.

The selection was made by the board after previous interviews with the candidate firms.

All of the board members supported picking Cox’s firm, with the exception of Jessee Espinosa, who abstained.

Cox lost the Area 3 Aug. 31 election this year to Allen Brooks, a local real estate agent and NAACP Merced County president.

Cox previously resigned from his board seat last year. He and partner Sherri Rausch are leading the search, according to a Monday night presentation by Cox. The contract approved Monday night is budgeted for $15,000.

There was some public pushback against the school board hiring Cox’s company. Some critics accused his company of not having a proven track record in conducting searches like this one.

“When we teachers found out the board was using a firm to find a superintendent, it was really disheartening,” said Merced City School District teacher Christiana Jones. “Our community has spoken. We don’t want Adam Cox’s input.”

The “elephant in the room,” as Cox called it, was on the minds of some of the board members Monday night.

Still, Cox said during his presentation that his values “are to serve the board’s values,” he said.

“What the board is looking for as far as quality and characteristics, that’s what our mission is as professionals,” Cox said to the board on Monday night.

“This is not about me looking for someone, this is definitely about me diving into this on your behalf with the parameters you’ve set.”

According to Cox’s presentation, Sectaris will work with the school board to advertise the open superintendent position in January.

Applications will be due on Feb. 20 and interviews will be conducted in March and April. The board will then pick a candidate during their regular board meeting on April 12.

Cites background as a plus

The former school board member was questioned by the board about why he would want to participate in the superintendent search process after his defeat in the last election.

“I would like to point out that even little tiny, squeaky wheels make a lot of noise,” Cox said. “I would not characterize myself as unpopular. I wanted to give back to the district because I spent more than a decade of my life serving on the board.”

He added that despite his role in hiring superintendent Richard Alan Rogers, who resigned earlier this year amid a sexual harassment lawsuit, he knows which mistakes were made and how to avoid making the same missteps.

“I’m so incredibly sorry that when I was on the board, when we hired our last superintendent, it just didn’t work out,” Cox said.

“It caused some disruption and some harm, and that can’t be undone. But what I can do is help use my skills and abilities to help the board find that true candidate that is going to make change and progress and improvements in the district.”