August 2020

Dear District Staff and Community Members:

Deerfield Public School District 109 Board of Education has begun the search process for a new Superintendent who will begin duties on July 1, 2021. The Board of Education would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Anthony McConnell for his outstanding work in our District.

The Board has selected SCHOOL EXEC CONNECT, an educational search firm, to assist us in the Superintendent search. The first step in this process is to create a New Superintendent Profile, using information gathered from focus groups and from an online survey. The New Superintendent Profile will guide us in the selection process.

We are looking forward to receiving your input for this task by taking a survey and/or participating in a focus group. The survey will take about ten minutes of your time. A link will be sent by email and will be available on our website from August 24-September 17.

In addition to the survey, you are invited to attend an open forum, either in person or on Zoom. If you would like to provide input on the District’s strengths, challenges, and the characteristics the next Superintendent should possess, SCHOOL EXEC CONNECT consultants invite you to attend one of the sessions that will be held in August and September. Dates, times, and locations (or use of videoconferencing) will be announced in mid-August.

Findings from the survey, the open forums, and the focus group conversations will be reported to the Board on September 21 at its Regular Meeting. A New Superintendent Profile will be created based on input from surveys and focus groups and will identify those characteristics and skills that our community identifies as being critical to the success of the new Superintendent.

As we move forward, our most important consideration is securing the strongest candidate pool and ultimately the best person to lead our District. A Stakeholder/Confidential Committee will be established to interview the final three candidates and share their feedback with the Board of Education. We trust that those involved in the search will hold candidate names confidential throughout the process.

The Board of Education looks forward to your support and assistance with this very important undertaking. Please feel free to contact the consultants assisting us if you have any questions or comments regarding the search: Dr. Linda Yonke yonkelinda@gmail.com or Dr. Benjamin Martindale benmartindale56@hotmail.com

We look forward to your input as we search for a new Superintendent to lead Deerfield Public Schools District 109.

Sincerely,
The Deerfield District 109 Board of Education