UPDATE: I just spoke with Superintendent Sharon Liddell who said Sue Sion will take over temporarily at Maria Carrillo.

Sion, who is retired, spent a good chunk of last year at the helm of Santa Rosa High when they had principal turnover. She was prohibited from finishing out the year at Santa Rosa when the state denied an appeal that would have allowed Sion to collect both retirement benefits and compensation as a temporary principal.

Because of that and because the district wants a new principal in place at Carrillo as soon as possible, Liddell hopes a new principal will be in place by the end of September.

“She will work with Mark and the rest of the staff to get things started,” Liddell said of Sion.

“We have quite a few qualified people that could apply for this position within this district. We hope that some of them will,” she said.

The search will be statewide.

“We hope to have all this taken care of by the end of September. We are going to keep that target in mind and work very hard to get it done before that time. If we don’t, then we’ll address it at that point in time.”

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Maria Carrillo High School is searching for a new principal after 9-year veteran Mark Klick has announced he’s leaving to take over as assistant superintendent of human resources at Santa Rosa City Schools district offices.

Klick has spent 19 years in education, preceded by 16 years of management experience in industry, according to the district. He is a certified school business officer, which includes training in human resources, according to the district.

Klick will replace Pat Crocker, who took over for Bob Thompson who resigned in June 2009 after two years in the position. At the time of her hire, Crocker was retired but doing consulting work for the district. She came back on a .8 full time equivalent basis.

It was just last Wednesday that the school board approved a temporary extension for Crocker’s contract. The contract was extended through August “with the provision to extend the agreement for up to twenty-one additional working days through the end of September should that become necessary relative to the status of the recruitment for Dr. Crocker’s successor.”

Looks like no extension will be necessary.

A search is under way for a new principal at Carrillo. The process is expected to take eight to ten weeks.