Dr Michael Egan, Superintendent of Schools for District 95, served the District for 21 years, and will be serving his last this year. Since Egan’s announcement of his retirement,  the District has hired a firm to help them find a replacement.

Jean Malek, Director of Communications and Planning for District 95, says the Board of Education wants a firm to help guide them in their search.

“The board of education made the decision that they wanted to enter into a contract with a search firm,” Malek said. “Over the course of the past few months, they looked at many different firms, then decided on one they were going to use.”

The Board has also set up focus groups with various people from the community to try to collect data about what people want in a new superintendent.

“They are trying to get feedback from administrators, parents, and students to see what traits they want in the new superintendent,” Malek said. “They are trying to build a more complete picture of the District so that they have all the information that they need to find a good match.”

School Exec Connect, the search firm the District has chosen, made a survey for the people in the District to give their opinions on what the new superintendent should be like. They are calling it the “New Superintendent Profile.”

“The search firm will be taking all the data they collected from focus groups and the survey and putting it into the profile,” Malek said. “After the profile is released, they will start accepting applications.”

The profile, planned to be released on September 17 during the Board of Education meeting, will have data about what people think the District’s strengths, weaknesses, and important aspects are.

“The board has indicated that the search should be complete before the end of this calendar year,” Malek said, “[so] it should be done before winter break.”