The district will hire one firm to handle all its legal matters,
rather than letting each department hire its own firms as needed,
trustees decided.
Gilroy – The district will hire one firm to handle all its legal matters, rather than letting each department hire its own firms as needed, trustees decided. In addition, the school board decided it will be involved in each step of the selection process.
At a Sept. 20 board meeting, Gilroy Unified School District trustees unanimously passed a resolution to create a three-trustee subcommittee to help select district legal services. The subcommittee will work with Superintendent Deborah Flores and three other district staff to choose a firm from those that reply to requests for qualifications, which were sent to 13 firms listed on the California School Boards Association Web site last week.
Being on the team that selects the legal firm “is a role that the board should be involved in,” trustee Francisco Dominguez said during a discussion prior to the vote. “The question then becomes to what extent do we want to become involved.”
Dominguez recommended that the entire board be a part of the selection process, as was the case with the previous school districts for which he served as a trustee, he said. In the past, the Gilroy school district let the heads of each department choose a law firm when the need arose. As a result, the district now pays for services from about four law firms, Flores said.
Flores, supported by three trustees, recommended that only three trustees work on the selection process. Dominguez and trustee Rhoda Bress volunteered for the committee. Flores will select the third subcommittee member by randomly selecting a person from those that expressed interest and were available to help.
District staff on the team will include Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Michael Lyons and Jeff Gabrielson, who handles special education for the district. Both of the departments these men head use the law firm more frequently than other district departments, Flores said.
Trustees also agreed that the finalists be brought before the full board for a vote. However, trustees disagreed as to whether two to three firms or four to five finalist should be brought before the board. Trustees settled on a minimum of three firms, leaving the exact number of finalists that are brought back up to the screening committee.
The criteria for selecting the firms could include services offered, reference referrals, a response to a case scenario, their location and their cost, Flores said. These were criteria used when a team in her previous district selected a legal firm. In that selection process, price was paramount, she added.
“Quite frankly we were looking at competitive cost proposals,” she said. “And I think this district should … after reviewing our legal costs for last year.”
Flores hopes the district will get replies from law firms by the end of October and the selection team can screen the firms and choose finalists in early November. She aims to have the entire process finished by Nov. 18.
