The Forest Municipal School District Board of Trustees has moved forward in its search for the new superintendent for the school district. The board has received a list of 23 vetted applicants to be considered for the position.
The school board began initial steps in the search process in February after outgoing superintendent Dr. Joseph White announced his decision to retire. After serving as FMSD Superintendent for seven years, White will retire at the conclusion of the current school year. The school board plans to have a new superintendent in place before activities begin for the new school year in late July.
The school board contracted with the Mississippi School Boards Association (MSBA) to assist in the search for the new superintendent. A brochure advertising the superintendent vacancy, and outlining the basic qualifications set by the board, along with an application was posted on the MSBA website on February 14.
Dr. Mike Waldrop, Executive Director of MSBA, sent an email to over 5,000 people announcing the search and requesting assistance in publicizing the vacancy. He also wrote personal letters to other possible applicants.
The vacancy announcement was sent to the National School Boards Association, which posted it on their website. Initial responses were made to those individuals who had been recommended or who had expressed an interest in the position.
The deadline to receive applications was March 14. All completed applications that were postmarked on or before the deadline were accepted and processed for consideration.
The MSBA conducted meetings in the Forest School District on March 7 to get feedback from the local community. An online survey was made available to the district’s stakeholder groups, including teachers, administrators, parents and community/ business members. Information and results from all surveys was collected by MSBA and provided to FMSD school board members to be used during the interview process.
FMSD Board Vice President Louvene Robinson said the board is currently conducting interviews of prospective applicants. “We are meeting every night this week to conduct interviews,” Robinson said. “We are looking to find the right candidate during these interviews and have the position filled as soon as possible.”
Forest Mayor Nancy Chambers said, “We commend the board members in their desire for a leader who can move our school district forward in providing the absolute best educational opportunities for all of our students.”
During the application process, the MSBA received completed applications from a total of 23 applicants. Among the applicants are three superintendents, five assistant superintendents, five directors, six principals, two consultants, one associate dean and one teacher. Fifteen of the applicants have a doctorate degree. Fifteen of the applicants are male and eight are female with 22 of the applicants coming from Mississippi and one applicant from Nevada.
Forest Mayor Nancy Chambers said the hiring of a new school superintendent is very important for the Forest School District. “The City of Forest is very excited about the current search being conducted by the Forest Municipal School Board,” she said. “We encourage all citizens of the Forest School District to be supportive of our board members and they make this very important decision.”
Reference letters for each applicant were received, and contacts were made to gain additional information about each applicant. Also, a determination made as to whether each applicant met the qualifications required to be qualified as a school district superintendent in Mississippi.
The FMSD Board of Trustees received a detailed report of all the information compiled by MSBA on April 18 from Dr. Waldrop and Dr. Tommye Henderson, MSBA Superintendent Search Consultants. In addition to the report, school board members received all application materials and qualifying documents for each of the 23 applicants currently up for consideration.
“We expect to have a new Forest Municipal School Superintendent by the end of this week of the first of next week,” Robsinon said.
