San Francisco (August 24, 2021) - The San Francisco Board of Education has commenced its search for a new superintendent and outlined the upcoming deadlines and opportunities for the public to participate in the process of selecting a firm to lead the search for candidates. 

The San Francisco Unified School District’s current superintendent, Dr. Vincent Matthews, plans to retire at the end of the 2021-22 school year.

The first step in the process of searching for a new superintendent is often to engage an executive search firm by soliciting proposals from qualified search firms. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was issued on Aug. 23. In addition, executive search firms that specialize in serving school districts have been contacted and invited to apply. Responses are due by 5:00 pm on Sept. 20.

Selected search firms will be invited to interview at a public meeting of the Board of Education and a finalist will be selected by Oct. 26.

The search firm will work with the Board on various phases of the recruitment and hiring process, including recruitment of a diverse pool of highly qualified candidates, reference checking, and the interview process.

“The Board is committed to ensuring the entire process of selecting a new superintendent is transparent and gives the community opportunities to provide input,” Board of Education President Gabriela Lopez said. “We want to hear from students, staff, parents, and community members about the desired qualities and characteristics they are looking for in our next superintendent and to share their thoughts on our district’s strengths and challenges. We appreciate Dr. Matthews’ leadership and he has agreed to stay at the helm of SFUSD until the end of June so that we can go through a thoughtful process in selecting SFUSD’s next superintendent.”

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