The Sweetwater Union High School District board of trustees selected Phil Stover to hold the interim superintendent reigns while a search for a permanent superintendent continues.
The trustees interviewed three applicants March 12 in closed session, and picked Stover for the job because he provided an outsider’s perspective, said school board President Frank Tarantino.
“We wanted to break with what past boards have done, in terms of bringing in interim superintendents who had previous ties with the district,” Tarantino said. “We just wanted to go in a different direction.”
Stover becomes Sweetwater district’s second interim superintendent in less than a year, replacing Tim Glover, who resigned as the district’s superintendent on Feb. 18, weeks before his contract was set to expire. Glover went back to work for the San Diego County Office of Education.
The newly appointed superintendent has vast experience in education. He holds master’s degrees in education and counseling psychology.
He also assessed and designed management programs for over 120 school districts, private schools and institutions of higher learning. He was also part of the reorganization efforts at San Diego Unified School District.
Stover reports to work once his contract is signed, until then temporary interim superintendent Sandra Huezo will continue to lead the district, Tarantino said.
“Right now we’re still kind of in flux and the responsibilities are Ms. Huezo’s right now in terms of managing the district on a day-to-day basis,” Tarantino said.
Sweetwater’s governing board members will vote on a contract for Stover at their March 30 meeting.
With Stover’s appointment, he rules himself out of the running for the permanent superintendent position.
“He will not be a candidate for the position of superintendent,” Tarantino said. “The board is very adamant about that.”
Board members have cited transparency reasons as why an interim cannot be considered for the permanent role.
Before Glover resigned, he appointed Huezo and director and lead principal Ramon Leyba as duty officers until an interim was found.
But attorney Dan Shinoff previously said that a duty officer only applies when a superintendent is on vacation or away at a conference, and that it needed to appoint an interim to the interim to remain in compliance with California’s Education Code.
Last week, on the advice of its legal counsel, the school board appointed Huezo as the interim to the interim superintendent, a move that Shinoff said keeps the district within regulations of state law.
