Focus groups made for Upper Darby superintendent search

UPPERDARBY >> Community input is needed as the Upper Darby School District continues its search for a new superintendent.

Through the Delaware County Intermediate Unit five focus group sessions have been scheduled for various times at a number of district schools to see about the ideal qualities for a perspective district head. Each session is scheduled for about 90 minutes.

These are the times and locations for the sessions: Oct. 22 at 10 a.m. in the Drexel Hill Middle School Auditorium; Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. in the Upper Darby High School Library; Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. in the Stonehurst Elementary School Library; Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at Westbrook Park Elementary; and Oct. 26 at 9:30 a.m. in the Beverly Hills Middle School Auditorium.

Approximately 50 people have signed up for the various times as of Thursday, according to DCIU spokeswoman Adriene Irving.

Interested stakeholders can register for any one of the groups on the school district or DCIU websites at www.upperdarbysd.org/ superintendentsearch and www.dciu.org.

The focus groups are the latest effort to get feedback from the community following a leadership survey that ends on Oct. 12.

District staff has been invited to participate in their own focus groups that will take place between Oct. 15 and Oct. 18.

Receiving input from all interested parties is phase one in the search process, which is scheduled to wrap up in November with the development of a leadership profile that will be used as a guide for the selection process (phase two).

Phase two will start in November which includes recruitment through January, screening and interviews through March and making an appointment in April.

The district has been going through the search process since June when Dan Nerelli announced his resignation to accept the superintendent’s position at the Chichester School District. Dan McGarry has been serving as acting superintendent since September when Nerelli officially started at Chichester and is contracted to do so through at least the end of the current school year.

Upper Darby contracted the DCIU as a search agency at no cost to the district save for advertisement and recruitment costs.