Former E-E Super selected to lead Corpus-area district

EDCOUCH — Former Edcouch-Elsa school district Superintendent Michael Sandroussi is close to landing a new job two weeks after he was sacked by school board trustees.

Sandroussi, 51, has been named the lone finalist to lead the West Oso school district, a 2,000-student school system in the Corpus Christi area, officials from that district said Thursday.

The West Oso school board settled on Sandroussi after a search that began after their district's superintendent announced his retirement effective at the end of the school year.

When called for comment Thursday on the new position, Sandroussi hung up the phone. He did not answer multiple other calls seeking comment later in the day.

"I think that district has a lot of positive things to offer its students and I am very excited to become part of that community," he told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times in a story published in the paper's online edition Thursday.

Edcouch-Elsa school officials declined to discuss their former superintendent's new position, citing unresolved issues surrounding Sandroussi's departure.

School board trustees voted Feb. 18 to fire him because of a mounting financial crisis that forced the district to lay off more than 230 employees. Parents and teachers had long blamed the embattled school chief and certain board members for the district's cash crunch - which left Edcouch-Elsa with more than $10 million in debts at its worst point.

Sandroussi, however, maintained that he served at the whim of school board members, who often ignored his suggestions for budget cuts.

Should he move to the West Oso school district, Sandroussi would helm a school system with about 4,000 fewer students than the Edcouch-Elsa district. He would also likely be forced to take a pay cut.

At Edcouch-Elsa, Sandroussi was one of the highest-paid superintendents in the Rio Grande Valley for a school system with fewer than 10,000 students. According to his last contract - which was set to expire in 2011 - his annual base pay was $160,000.

The salary range posted for the Wes Oso district's top job is $95,000 to $120,000 a year.

State law requires school districts to name a sole finalist for superintendent jobs at least 21 days before they offer the candidate a contract.