By Heather Bell
RADFORD – The Radford City School Board is seeking the public’s opinion on various attributes for the next school superintendent through a survey.
The survey is open now through Friday, Oct. 6 and can be found on the school division website, www.rcps.org.
Jenny Riffe, chair of the Radford City School Board, made the announcement to the school community via email Tuesday, Sept. 26.
“The school board has started its search process for our next school superintendent of Radford City Schools,” said Riffe. “Your input into the search process is critical. Please go to our website at www.rcps.org to complete a survey on the characteristics and attributes you want in our next superintendent of schools.”
“This is an anonymous survey and the School Board would like every member of the community who wishes to have a voice in the process complete the survey,” she continued.
The survey asks opinions on the importance of the superintendent having various characteristics and aptitudes, from communication skills to technology, approaches to learning, improvement of graduation rates, safety, experience in facilities, visibilities and more.
A schedule of superintendent search activities is posted on the website as well, so the public can keep up to date with where the school board is in the selection process.
The tentative schedule includes:
September 26 – October 6: Online Survey
October 10: Public Hearing by School Board
October 14: Special Called School Board Meeting- Profile development with school board; approval of the announcement and application for the position
October 16 – November 3: Advertisement of profile and application, receipt of applications
November 4: Special called school board meeting- Meet with school board on applications, develop interview questions
November 17 – November 25: First and second round interviews
December (TBD): Special called school board meeting, school board announcement.
Former RCPS Superintendent Robert Graham resigned his position in June after eight years leading the division and was shortly thereafter named Superintendent of Pulaski County Public Schools. Dr. Roger Collins is serving as interim superintendent while the superintendent’s search takes place. Collins began his educational career in 1983 as a classroom teacher, then served as an assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent and, from 2003 – 2014 as Superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools. Following that position, he has served as an associate professor in the graduate Educational Leadership Program at Kames Madison University.
