This time around, the board has hired help to prepare them to approach the process differently.
Last Spring, the Fresno Unified Board of Education was working to replace outgoing Superintendent Bob Nelson, but the search quickly came to a halt as then-Board President Susan Wittrup sounded the alarm about the process.
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She claimed "Leadership Associates," a hiring firm the board used for the candidate search, generated a report that said residents wanted the next superintendent to have, "strong ties to the community."
Wittrup claimed that's not what residents requested.
"It was rigged. You know, it was rigged," Wittrup said in a 2024 interview. "Their voices to ask for an external candidate or fresh eyes was not included in the report to the board."
Amid the controversy, Leadership Associates backed out of their contract.
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The board named Deputy Superintendent Misty Her as Interim Superintendent.
Since then, the search has been relatively paused as the board worked to figure out its next steps.
FUSD Chief Communications Officer Nikki Henry says, in that time, the board has been working with the Council of the Great City Schools.
It's an organization that works with 78 of the nation's largest urban public school systems.
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"It really focuses on unique challenges that large urban school districts face," Henry said.
Henry says the majority of that work has included the board learning about "Student Outcome Focused Governance."
"So they've all committed to going through coaching and training from the best of the best from the Council of the Great City Schools to really make sure that their governance is focused on student outcomes, not adult behaviors, not adult outcomes," Henry said.
That training and coaching is a two-year contract with a base cost of $60,000 and total costs up to $100,000.
The coach from the Council of the Great City Schools sits in on board meetings and sometimes gives on-the-spot coaching.
"What you're looking for here, remember you own the goals. In collaboration with the superintendent, but you own the goals," Council of the Great City Schools coach Sue Deigaard said during a January board meeting.
Henry says the training and coaching have led the board to come together.
At a January meeting, they approved a new list of "Goals and Guardrails" for the district based on what they heard during community listening sessions at the end of last year.
The goals have a five-year timeline and are ambitious.
They include increasing the percentage of first graders who are proficient in literacy from 48% to 80%.
It also aims to increase the percentage of students graduating from high school who are college and career-ready from 43% to 64%.
"We really believe that these are realistic if we can stay focused. The biggest difference on these goals versus any other goals that we've had as a district in the past is that they are measurable and they are timebound," Henry said.
All of the steps taken to reach the newly set goals are expected to stay within the newly defined guardrails passed by the board.
They include that the superintendent may not propose major decisions to the board without a community engagement plan.
The superintendent may not meet the goals by leaving out or denying access to any distinct and/or vulnerable population groups or schools.
They also may not meet the goals at the cost of unreasonably compromising the health and wellness of students and staff.
The board has also started doing quarterly self-evaluations at the meetings.
Former Board President Susan Wittrup declined an on-camera interview at this time but said in a phone call she supports what's happening with the board, is happy about the direction it is going and has great hope for what can happen if they stay true to the process. She encouraged the community to stay engaged.
Henry says the district is hopeful the dramatic changes the board is making will pay off.
"We're trying to do things very differently, and therefore, we're hoping that we'll have transformational change, not incremental change," Henry said.
Henry says the board is using the "Goals and Guardrails" to develop the criteria for the next superintendent.
But she also says there will be "hard decisions" that will need to be made to meet those goals.
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