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The Springfield City Board of Education interviewed eight candidates this week in its search for the next superintendent to lead the more than 7,000 students and 900 employees in the district.
Superintendent David Estrop will retire at the end of the school year.
Through consulting firm K12 Business Consulting, the board received 16 applications and narrowed the field to eight candidates who were interviewed Monday and Tuesday, said Treasurer Dale Miller.
The board plans to further narrow the candidates to three, who will have final interviews Monday through Wednesday of next week and will participate in community meet and greet sessions.
Interviewed this week were:
•Carl Metzger, Assistant Superintendent of South-Western City Schools in Grove City, the state’s sixth-largest district with 21,000 students.
•John Stanford, Deputy Superintendent of Columbus City Schools.
•Richard Goodright, Superintendent of Massillon City Schools and previously Assistant Superintendent of Wooster City Schools.
•Doug Baker, Assistant Superintendent of New Philadelphia City School District and former Superintendent at Marietta City Schools.
•Donis Toler, Coordinator of Human Resources, Diversity and Equity for Dublin City Schools.
•Brad Ritchey, Director of Instructional Assessment with the Parma City Schools.
•Guy Parmigian, Superintendent of Benton-Carroll-Salem Local School District in Oak Harbor. Previously worked in Clark County as a coordinator and teacher for the Clark County Educational Service Center.
•Robert Hill, Superintendent of Firelands Local School District outside of Cleveland.
The board is looking for someone who has had success in improving their school district’s performance on state report cards and other indicators, said Board President Ed Leventhal.
“We’re looking for educational experience and leadership,” he said, along with someone with strong communication skills.
The candidates come from a variety of districts including large urban and suburban districts and some much smaller than Springfield.
The more important thing than how similar their districts are to Springfield, Leventhal said, is how they have impacted student performance wherever they come from.
The community will have an opportunity to meet and ask questions of the top three candidates during individual meet and greet sessions Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Each session will be from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the Clark Center.
Those days the candidates will also meet with school cabinet members and administrators and then go through final interviews with the board.
Among the 16 applicants for the position, the only local name was Reva Cosby, currently the Principal at Wayne High School in Huber Heights, who has previously worked for Trotwood High School and Dayton Public Schools.
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