School Board to Announce Superintendent Finalists Tuesday

The will name the finalists for the district's superintendent position at a special meeting Tuesday evening.

The board is looking to hire a replacement for David Larson, who announced in late March that .

The announcement comes at the halfway point of an already long search process, which involved to conduct the district's search, as well as organizing focus groups and online surveys asking the community what they want in Birmingham's next superintendent.

The search process is timed in order to have a new superintedent in place by July 1.

During a special meeting on May 8, representatives from School Exec Connect told school board members that they had received 40 applications for the Birmingham position, most of whom are from Michigan.

"We're pleased with the number," said David Peterson, School Exec consultant and retired superintendent from the Northern Suburban School District. "But not only the number but the quality (of the applicants)."

In April, School Exec conducted an online community survey with more than 530 responses while also holding 10 focus groups with 95 participants. During those sessions, parents, teachers and community members said .

On Tuesday, school board members will meet in closed session at 6 p.m. to discuss potential candidates. At 8 p.m., they will open the meeting to the public and announce four to six finalists.

The school board will then conduct its first round of interivews on May 30. After interviews, the board will select two finalists, both of whom will be interviewed by two committees made up of parents, teachers and administrators.

Final interviews for the last two candidates, including candidates' 15-minute presentations to the board, are scheduled for June 6-7. The final interviews will be televised.

The school board hopes to make its selection by June 11.

Check out Birmingham Schools Superintendent Search 2012 for more on Birmingham Public Schools' search for a new superintendent this spring and summer.