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Woodland Hills votes to open top post
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A newly reorganized Woodland Hills school board voted last week to notify superintendent Walter Calinger that it intends to find someone else to take the top job.
When reached by phone this week, Mr. Calinger, who has been on paid medical leave since April, would not say whether he would reapply for the job.
"I think that remains to be seen," he said.
Mr. Calinger, 72, applied for the superintendent position in the Steel Valley School District in May. Steel Valley hired Ed Wehrer in June.
Mr. Calinger has been superintendent since 2008, and his contract expires July 1. Deputy superintendent Alan Johnson has served as substitute superintendent in his absence, and some suggested that the district won't need to look far to find a permanent replacement.
"I don't think you'll have to look any further than Mr. Johnson," Bill Wilson, a Wilkins commissioner, told the board last week.
Board member Tara Reis agreed.
"As far as I'm concerned, we don't have to look," she said in a Monday phone interview. "We have our superintendent. He's been our superintendent for quite some time now."
She said parents, administrators, teachers, students and principals "love Mr. Johnson and what he represents."
"So why look any further?" she asked. "We've had stability with Mr. Johnson. We're moving in the right direction."
She added that Mr. Calinger is "welcome to apply."
Mr. Johnson, who has been with the district for a little more than a year, said he was "certainly interested" in the position but would give the board time to decide the process for hiring the next superintendent.
The board also held its annual reorganization meeting last week. President Marilyn Messina and Vice President Regis Driscoll swapped roles, with the board voting unanimously to elect Mr. Driscoll as president and Mrs. Messina as vice president.
Mrs. Messina, who has been a board member for 25 years and served as president for five years, wouldn't comment on the possibility of Mr. Johnson moving into the superintendent position and said the board hasn't yet discussed whether the district will conduct a search.
"I'm sure every board member has their thoughts, but I think we need to discuss it as a board," she said.
Mrs. Messina noted that the motion read that the position is open and that Mr. Calinger "is able to apply if he wishes to."
First Published December 13, 2012 7:37 am
