By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

The Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education held a special meeting on Monday to discuss the superintendent search process with John Silveri from the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI), the district’s search firm.

In this meeting, the board essentially nailed down a timeline for the search process that is expected to wrap up in mid-May.

Over the next couple of weeks, (Feb. 10-28) Silveri will meet with stakeholders, including community members, parents, students, staff, administration and public officials.

Along with these meetings, the district is expected to provide an online option; however, attending an in-person meeting is encouraged.

“There’s benefit in a dialogue but there will be an online option,” said Trustee Scott Taylor.

These stakeholder meetings will help the district and MLI establish a candidate and district/community profile in order to create and finalize the job posting.

According to Silveri, during the next several weeks following the posting of the position (Feb. 28 – March 30) things will “go dark” for the board as applications come in.

The deadline for applications will be 4 p.m. on March 30.

Silveri mentioned several times throughout the meeting that he has received calls from prospective candidates on the position already.

“There’s a high level of interest already,” Silveri said. “I’ve heard from people already who are interested and asking me about the position. I think you’re going to have a very strong candidate field, and I think it’s exceedingly unlikely that you’re going to find yourself at the end feeling dissatisfied.”

On April 7, the board will meet at 6 p.m. and go into closed session, where they will be presented with the applicants.

The board will exit closed session and make a motion to interview certain candidates (excluding the candidates’ names for confidentiality reasons). Once a motion has been passed, candidate information will be made public.

Interview questions will also be selected and discussed at this meeting.

First round interviews are expected to be held at 6 p.m. on April 13-15. April 16 will be reserved for additional time to conduct and further discuss the interviews, if the board feels it’s necessary.

The board will then take a week off before interviewing their final candidates at 7 p.m. on April 27 and April 28.

The following week, three board members will likely conduct site visits.

At 7 p.m. on May 11, the board will make their final selection and begin negotiating a contract with the chosen superintendent candidate.

The final action for approving the hire of the new superintendent will be during the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on May 27.

The new superintendent will begin on July 1.