School board members, looking for someone to lead the city’s troubled school district out of its problems, may be searching for Superman rather than a superintendent.

Executive search firm Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler recently sent out a letter to 6,000 business executives, political leaders and education experts across the country listing 19 qualities a new superintendent should have for the job, which will pay up to $250,000 a year. The district wants someone with:

-A record of transforming a large organization.

-Experience relevant to the business and financial management requirements of a large, complex organization in need of reform.

-The capacity to build bridges linking diverse communities within a large organization.

-The vision to articulate what will be required of students to succeed in the 21st century environment.

-The ability to develop strategies to recruit, develop and retain excellent teachers.

-The ability to focus on high standards of excellence for all students.

Oh, and one other thing: Someone who can turn around what many describe as a dysfunctional school system that is plagued with low test scores and never-ending fiascoes such as construction of the Belmont Learning Complex.

“What we are saying is, this time we believe the children of this city deserve the highest quality leadership that we can attract to this institution,” said Genethia Hayes, president of the Los Angeles Unified School District board.

The board is paying a headhunter $70,000 to find qualified candidates and the recruiting net is being flung far and wide. Even military leaders and corporate executives are not being ruled out. So far, 1,500 nominated submissions have come in, Hayes said.

Ideally, the board would like to have a superintendent named by May and ready to take over from interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines by July 1.

“We feel that the new person who comes in has to create his or her own team,” Hayes said. That could mean the 11 district superintendents reporting to the school superintendent might be asked to step down.

The school board can spend up to $140,000 for its search. So far, $8,000 is earmarked for newspaper ads. Another $45,000 was spent to survey parents and school employees on what characteristics and qualifications a new superintendent should possess.

The competition for candidates will be considerable: New York, Detroit, San Francisco, Oakland and Las Vegas are also searching for school administrators.