Former superintendent Garcia is ‘preferred candidate’ for school district in San Francisco

Former Clark County School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia might be selected as the next chief of San Francisco's schools later this week, a board member with the Bay Area district said Wednesday.

Jill Wynns, a school board member with the San Francisco Unified School District, said Garcia is the district's "preferred candidate" in its search for a superintendent that began in January. Wynns said two or three board members will be in Las Vegas this week speaking with school officials. She added that if all goes well, Garcia will be San Francisco Unified's next superintendent.

Garcia resigned from his post as superintendent for Clark County's public schools in 2005 after five years to take a position in the private sector as vice president of urban markets for textbook publisher McGraw-Hill.

"What he told us is he liked the private sector," Wynns said. "And like many people who spend their lives in school districts, he misses being in the trenches and seeing direct results of working with kids."

Wynns said Garcia was whittled from a list of more than 30 candidates. The San Francisco district has about 56,000 students.

A woman who picked up the phone line at Garcia's home Wednesday said he didn't have any comment.