EDWARDSBURG — Edwardsburg Public Schools is seeking help from the community to make an important decision.

After more than 20 years with the same superintendent, EPS announced on Feb. 23 that the district has begun the process of finding a replacement for the retiring Sherman Ostrander, and the school board would like input from staff, parents, students and anyone else in the Edwardsburg community to help them determine who to hire.

Also helping to facilitate the hiring process is Gary Rider, regional president of the Michigan Leadership Institute.

“Edwardsburg has been a very stable school district, so there hasn’t been the need for a ton of people at board meetings or anything like that,” Rider said. “What we’re trying to do is activate the community, so they can engage in the superintendent process and get as many people as possible there at interviews and to fill out surveys.”

To start the search, the district will host focus group meetings and a community forum on March 9. The survey, which is available on the EPS website, has a deadline of 4 p.m. on March 10 and includes three questions:

• What are the points of pride for the Edwardsburg Public Schools and community?

• What are the challenges facing the Edwardsburg Public Schools and community?

• What talents, qualities, and skills does the next superintendent need to possess?

Answers to the questions will provide the school board and Rider the feedback necessary to come up with a candidate profile.

“It’s that profile that the candidates should get measured against,” Rider said. “It’s not a race where you line people up and look for the fastest. This is more like matchmaking.”

The application period for internal candidates opened Feb. 26 and the deadline to apply is March 19. At this time, the hiring process is not open to people outside of the school district.

The board will first vet potential internal candidates against the profile, and if they feel like they have a strong enough candidate to hire, they may not look outside the district at all.

“In my discussions with the Edwardsburg board, what they have decided is that they potentially have people within the organization they would like to vet against whatever profile that comes up,” Rider said. “If they feel that they have a great candidate, then they may go with them rather than conducting a full search, where they consider candidates from all over the state or potentially outside of the state.”

Once candidates have been offered and accepted an interview, EPS can publically release the candidates and include the community in this part of the process as well.

“When interviews actually take place, they’ll have a chance to submit questions in writing to the candidates if they like,” he said. “And they’ll also be able to, in writing, give the board their feelings about the candidates.”

Rider said his overall goal is not to make the decision for EPS. Rather, his job is to simply advise them and make sure that the community is as involved in the hiring process as is reasonably possible.

“That’s a big part of what we do. We help make processes transparent and credible,” he said. “We help the board with different legal aspects when it comes to conducting and facilitating a superintendent search. What they’re getting is not just my expertise and my experience but the experience of an organization that, since 1998, has done over 350 superintendent searches in the state of Michigan.”

Additionally, while Superintendent Ostrander is technically on the board, he says that he does not intend to be part of the hiring process.

“At this point, my involvement will be after the board has made a decision, and I will do whatever I can do to ensure a smooth transition by offering support,” Ostrander said.

The community forum on March 9 will be hosted at the Edwardsburg Administration Board Room at 69410 Section St.