Panel Named to Interview Candidates to Head Schools

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Friday named an 11-member committee to interview candidates for the school district’s top job and recommend finalists within four months.

The committee will begin its work in two weeks, after the board approves criteria to be used in choosing a new superintendent.

The district has hired an outside headhunting firm to conduct a nationwide search to replace former Supt. Ruben Zacarias, who stepped down Jan. 15.

The search firm will pass along names to the committee, which will interview the candidates and select a list of semifinalists in March. The committee is to submit a list of finalists to the board in early May.

The school board is expected to pick a new superintendent by May 30, officials said. That person will start July 1, replacing interim Supt. Ramon C. Cortines.

The search committee members are:

* Eli Broad, chief executive of SunAmerica Inc.

* John Brooks Slaughter, president emeritus of Occidental College and a USC education professor.

* Kathleen Dixon, president of the nonprofit Parent Collaborative, which represents parent concerns to the school district.

* Daniel Garcia, senior vice president at Warner Bros. and a former Los Angeles planning commissioner.

* Carolyn Ellner, dean emeritus of the college of education at Cal State Northridge.

* Bong Hwan Kim, executive director of the Multicultural Collaborative, which represents the Asian American community.

* Louis Moret, chief operating officer of the California Assn. of Governments.

* Andrea Rich, president and director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

* Christine Vasquez, joint board manager of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.

* Robert Wycoff, former president of Arco.

* Tyree Wieder, president of Los Angeles Valley College.