It took the Rocklin Unified School District two years to name the new high school to Whitney High School, and the search for a new principal for Rocklin High School has now reached its fifth month.

“The two hardest jobs to fill in education are the high school principal and district superintendent,” said Superintendent Kevin Brown. “The demands are so great that many people just don’t want the responsibility, time commitment, and the challenges.”

RUSD has embarked on now its third run through of applications, interviews, and candidates – with assistance from a constantly changing committee of RHS staff members.

“We have two interview teams that are comprised of RHS teachers and classified staff, along with district office administrators, support providers (counselor or psychologist), and an elementary/secondary site administrators,” Brown said. “We include parents and sometimes a trustee will also sit on one of the committees.”

A stringent set of requirements for the new principal have not been full-filled by the applicants in the first two runs of interviews.

According to Brown, the ideal candidate for the principal position needs a strong background in curriculum, assessment, data analysis; standards based instruction, and learning theory and a “genuine concern for students and their well-being.”

“I’m sure I (didn’t mention) 10-20 of the criteria,” Brown said.

Brown says the district is taking things very seriously.

“We have not yet found the candidate that has all or a sufficient number of these qualities to recommend for hiring,” Brown said. “This is an extremely important and critical position for our district and we want to find the best person we can.”

The staff at RHS have also taken a heightened interest in the process, as shown with their over 50% turnout to a meeting with the board members after the first run-through failed.

Assistant Principal Mark Douglas has been the main person in charge of organizing the committee.

“They could have just said, "We’re appointing so-and-so for principal," said Assistant Principal Mark Douglas. “(But) That’s not the practice that our district typically goes through.”

The current plan is for a new principal to be selected by July at the latest and Brown is not surprised by the lengthy time this process has taken.

“It usually takes more than one attempt to find the right person,” Brown said. “We will find a good match for the high school before the start of the new year.”

“I hope the answer isn’t that we’re just going to go through the year without one!” Douglas said.

Committee member Susan Espana echoes that statement.

“We are getting to the end of the year so we do need to make a decision.”