Following the retirement announcement from Superintendent Dr. Tony Knight, the Oak Park Unified School District Board of Trustees began the search for a new superintendent. The Board worked with Dr. Peggy Lynch and Dr. Fred Van Leuven from Leadership Associates to establish a process to select the next superintendent and a schedule. 

“[We] began identifying the desired characteristics for a new superintendent, identified the groups whose input we will seek to help shape the candidate profile and finalized the online survey through which any stakeholder or interested parties can let us know what they would like to see in a new superintendent,” President of the OPUSD Board of Trustees Allen Rosen wrote in a ParentSquare and StudentSquare blast.

The board is now requesting input from stakeholder groups and anyone with interest regarding the creation of a candidate profile. The results from the online survey and Zoom meetings will be collected by Leadership Associates.

“From the input they receive, [Leadership Associates] will develop a proposed candidate profile, which the Board will review along with all of the underlying information and data that was collected,” Rosen wrote. “The Board will finalize the profile, and it will then be published and presented to the candidates applying for the position. Leadership Associates will also use that information to help the Board determine how well each candidate aligns with the profile.”

After receiving all of the applications, Leadership Associates will look at the background and experience of the candidates and after this the Board will view the candidates, their background check and notes about how they fit with the candidate profile. After reviewing the candidates, the Board will select a few for interviews and make a final decision. The Board has also chosen to keep the search confidential so the names of candidates will not be shared until the new superintendent is chosen. 

For those who wish to give their input, they can take the online survey or participate in upcoming stakeholder group meetings. The survey is open until Feb. 2 and can be found here.

“In the next few weeks, once we have the results from the survey and stakeholder meetings, we will publish the survey results along with the candidate profile,” Rosen wrote. “We are excited about this search process and continue to look forward to working collaboratively with all of our stakeholders in the search for a new Superintendent.”