4th name quits race for top city schools job

The fourth of five top candidates for superintendent of Boston's public schools has withdrawn from consideration for the job, further muddling the search process.

Deborah A. Sims, an associate superintendent in San Francisco, told the Globe yesterday that she withdrew from consideration Friday.

``I am honored to have been considered," Sims wrote in an e-mail. ``However, due to the uncertainty of the timeline, it was necessary for me to withdraw my name." She could not be reached by phone for comment last night.

Sims is the fourth candidate in two weeks to drop out of the running. That leaves only Nancy J. McGinley, chief academic officer of Charleston County schools in South Carolina, as a leading candidate.

``As far as we're concerned, the search continues," said Boston public schools spokesman Jonathan Palumbo, who had not heard of Sims' withdrawal. ``We're still working with candidates in which we have interest, and we'll make an announcement as soon as we're ready to make an announcement."

The 12-member search committee is slated to reconvene this week to discuss its next steps and to add more names to the mix. The committee last met June 26 and identified five candidates as their top picks to replace Thomas W. Payzant, who retired June 30, after 11 years in the post.

The names were not going to be made public until the candidates agreed to be finalists, but sources told the Globe they were: Arlene Ackerman, former superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District; Mary Grassa O'Neill, a former Milton superintendent and former Boston schools administrator who works at Harvard University training principals; Manuel J. Rivera, superintendent of Rochester City School District in New York; Sims; and McGinley.

Two candidates said they never agreed to be finalists. Ackerman said she told the search committee during her meeting with them that she would not be a finalist, but they chose to pursue her anyway. Rivera, the 2006 national superintendent of the year and considered a favorite, also declined. Grassa O'Neill and Sims agreed to be finalists, but subsequently dropped out.

Sims, former chief of K-12 operations in San Francisco, recently was shifted to a different position. She is an associate superintendent of equity and internal communication. Although she no longer has direct oversight of district schools, she said the move, orchestrated by San Francisco's interim superintendent, was not a demotion. The search committee had agreed to reconvene if two or more candidates withdrew, but it did not expect four contenders to do so, said sources close to the search.

The School Committee originally planned to name a new superintendent by the end of June, and was already behind schedule.

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.