ONSTED — Starting next week, Onsted Community Schools, as part of its superintendent search process, will gauge the feelings, thoughts and perspectives of its stakeholders during three community forums.

The community forums, also being called input sessions, are slated for Tuesday, Feb. 27, on the campus of Onsted Community Schools. The district has set the following times and locations for the forums:

• 1:30-2:30 p.m., Onsted Community Schools Board of Education conference room. This is open for any OCS community members.

• 3:15-4:15 p.m., Onsted High School auditeria for OCS staff members. Staff also are welcome to attend any session, but this session is reserved specifically for staff members.

• 6:30-7:30 p.m., Onsted High School auditeria for OCS community members.

The forums/input sessions are for community members, district stakeholders and staff to share about what qualities they would like to see in Onsted’s new superintendent. Such information will be beneficial, the district said in a news release, as it actively seeks the right leader as its next superintendent.

Steve Head, current superintendent for Onsted schools, publicly announced his intention to retire and submitted his letter of retirement at the Board of Education’s Dec. 18 regular meeting. He will retire from the district with an effective date of June 30.

More: Onsted Community Schools superintendent announces retirement

Not only is the district providing the in-person feedback sessions next week, it also will have electronic opportunities for community members to provide feedback. An electronic survey will be posted on the district’s website, onstedschools.us, and to its social media pages within the coming days.

To facilitate a smooth transition in leadership, communication regarding the next steps of the superintendent search also will be posted online at onstedschools.us/superintendent-search.

All information received will be considered by Onsted’s Board of Education with assistance from Randy Liepa, the district’s superintendent search consultant who is a member of the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI) and has had a 30-year career in public education.

“We hope to receive as much feedback as possible to assure the candidate we select best suits the Onsted community’s needs,” the district said. “… The OCS Board of Education will consider all community feedback as we review applicants and determine which candidates will be the best fit for Onsted.”

Head, a native of Flat Rock, has spent 29 years “living out the vision” of Onsted Community Schools, the district said when he announced his upcoming retirement. Onsted’s vision as a school district is “To inspire, challenge and prepare every person, every day.”

Head began his career at OCS as a high school social studies teacher, and had been a teacher, coach and principal before taking on the superintendent role in 2017, succeeding Mark Haag, now the superintendent at the Lenawee Intermediate School District (LISD).

The superintendent position was officially posted, and the application window opened Tuesday. The application period continues through 4 p.m. March 20.

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Once the input has been collected from next week’s focus groups and the application window has closed, the third step of the process is the first round of candidate interviews, which are scheduled for the week of April 8.

The top candidates will be interviewed a second time during April 15-30, which also will be when they will conduct site visits to Onsted’s school facilities.

The fifth and final step of the search timeline is the selection of Onsted’s new superintendent, scheduled to be completed by May 1.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Community forums to help Onsted schools form new superintendent profile