By Hub City Times staff

MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Board of Education is starting the process of hiring a new district superintendent.

The board held a special meeting April 19 to consider a draft for the hiring process.

It sets an application deadline of April 27, with a pre-assessment process starting April 30. Stakeholder interviews with various sectors of the community will take place the week of May 7; that group includes the full board of education; district directors; and staff members, to include principals, professional staff, food-service workers, and custodians.

The final interview group would include members of the community, such as business leaders and others from education at the local university and technical college campuses.

Board member Amber Kiggens-Leifheit supported the interview process.

“I think that they can get at different things and bring their perspective to us, as a community member, as an administrator,” she said. “I know that we had talked about trying to value the input from the other groups, and if we needed a mathematical formal rubric or if we just make it clear they are having input; so, I don’t know which way people feel, other groups feel, like they really have a say in it or not, just being asked to do the work and we are not going to listen, because we don’t want that either.”

The finalists for the position will have public presentations on May 9, which is also the date of the next Board of Education meeting.  The final interview round is scheduled for May 14, with negotiations with the finalist between May 15-31, and a signed offer by June 1.

The new superintendent will start July 1, which is the beginning of the next academic year. There were 14 applicants for the position on April 19. The individual, who is chosen, will replace Dr. Dee Wells, who announced her retirement earlier this year. She’s been with the district for four years.