The Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education gave direction to begin the process to find a new superintendent at a special study session Monday.

Current Interim Superintendent Jerry Gross is due to vacate his position in June.

The board directed BHUSD staff, led by Gross, to devise a timeline that will effectively manage the search and utilize traditional and non-traditional firms to find qualified candidates.

“We’ve gotten it wrong nine times in the past 11 years,” said Board of Education member Brian Goldberg. “I am not interested in just recycling superintendents from California.”

BHUSD staff was directed to look at search firms that specialize in a variety of industries including business, military and nonprofits, as well as traditional search firms that focus primarily on the educational sector.

“I think that it is not a bad idea to look ‘outside the box,’” said board Vice President Lisa Korbatov. “Sometimes people bring different skill sets. It can be a former CEO, perhaps someone who came out of the military–someone who led many, many, many people. I don’t believe the way we have done things in the past has been the most fruitful, therefore I don’t want to employ the same mechanisms.”

“It hasn’t been an epidemic in the country to go in this search direction, but if it gets the right person in, and they are a success, great, let’s look at it,” said Gross.

Gross is expected to present the board with a timeline outlining expectations for the search by the end of February. Gross will also present the board with up to five possible search firm candidates, the first step, he said.

It is expected that a full-time, permanent superintendent will be in place by July 1, said board President Steven Fenton.

However, should the search not yield expected results in the allotted time frame, Gross does have some contractual flexibility to remain with the district until a suitable replacement is found.