The first Board of Education meeting of September provided district administrators and trustees with an opportunity to welcome students and families back into the fold while celebrating the strides Eastchester has made over the past few years. But the meeting also provided a glimpse of where the District may be heading next.
At the Sept. 10 meeting, Eastchester Board of Education members introduced the community to the co-founders of District Wise Search Consultants (DWSC), the group tapped to helm the search for a superintendent to lead the district after Dr. Ronald Valenti’s term ends this June.
Before introducing Bob Freier and Joann Kaplan from DWSC, BOE President Christine Civitano-Lombardi thanked Dr. Valenti for his ongoing service to the district and laid out a timeline for the recruitment process.
“Our goal is to have a new Superintendent selected by March 2025, with a start date of July 2025,” said Civitano-Lombardi. “Given that timeframe, we have agreed to convert the final 65 days of Dr. Valenti’s contract to a consultancy agreement, which will see him report directly to the Board as he works toward onboarding the new Superintendent as well as reviewing and analyzing recommendations made to the Board.”
That 65-day consultancy period, she noted, is set to run between July and the end of December.
Freier and Kaplan then addressed the community to reveal some of the details about the search process and to explain the DWSC philosophy when it comes to recruiting administrators.
“Our goal is to find the right leaders and the right fit for the community and the students,” said Kaplan. “We started this company about 15 years ago because it was important for us to find the right fit, and not just place somebody in a school district.
“We want to understand the community and the staff and learn about what’s really important,” she added.
To that end, said Freier, DSWC plans to hold meaningful dialogues with various stakeholders to determine exactly what qualities Eastchester most values in its next superintendent.
“We’re going to have a community forum, probably within the next several weeks; we’ll be here to do it live, but at the same time we will be offering it on zoom,” said Freier. “The idea is to get everyone’s input on what we should be looking for.”
“We’re also going to be speaking to staff and students. We don’t just want to speak to parents; we want to hear from senior citizens, as well as people that might not have children in school yet,” noted Kaplan. “What we do with that information is we use it when we go out and recruit. This data is really crucial to helping us form a profile [for candidates].”
DWSC plans to begin holding forums early this fall in order to narrow down a slate of finalists who will be interviewed by the EUFSD Board in February.
Community members will be made aware of future forum dates as soon as they are scheduled in the hopes that the collaborative efforts between various stakeholders will help DWSC attract candidates that will continue to help Eastchester soar.
“This Board interviewed several different search firms; we hired [DWSC] not only because of their personalized service, but also their constant exploration of input from a wide variety of groups,” said Fanelli. “I think you’ve heard from this Board consistently over the last several years that community input is important.
“To all our staff, to all our parents, please participate,” he added. “We want to know your thoughts and what you’re looking for, and that will help us craft a path forward.”
