Bryan Martin has left the position of Assistant Principal of Curriculum and Instruction in pursuit of a new job as principal at Rancho Campaña High School. Due to Martin’s departure, the position of Assistant Principal of Curriculum and Instruction is currently being filled.

Leslie Heilbron, the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Oak Park Unified School District, listed the job for applicants during the week of Aug. 20. Since then, ten applicants have applied for the position and four are going to be interviewed during the week of Sep. 20. The candidates have to go through two interviews to secure the position.

“There are two rounds of interviews — there’s a cabinet interview at the district level and a panel interview at the site,” Principal Kevin Buchanan said.

Prior to this, Heilbron reviewed applicants and narrowed down the list. Those who met the requirements were called in for interviews and are being weighed by the administration for the position. There are numerous factors that Heilbron has to consider.

“The person has to have been a teacher and have an administration credential — so a teaching credential — and then we’re looking for some levels of experience,” Superintendent Tony Knight said.

Specifically, applicants are required to have worked for at least five years in teaching and have done some administrative work. Thus, applicants who were principals or assistant principals at other schools are more appealing candidates than ones who weren’t. Assistant Principal Jason Meskis said that an interview is necessary to ensure that a candidate is a good fit for the school.

“You want a good person, you want somebody who cares about kids first and is supportive of teachers,” Meskis said. “[You want someone who] knows about our school and what we do here, and they feel like its a good fit for them. That’s a big part of it: to make sure it’s a good fit for the candidate coming in and for the school.”

An issue facing the hiring process is the four applicants that are set to be interviewed are all from other districts. Applicants from other districts need their district’s approval to obtain a position at another district. This is a problem because many potential applicants have already settled down and would have a hard time getting their district’s approval now that the year’s started.

“Once we find somebody if they teach at another public school we have to get permission from their school district to release them,” Knight said.