Patty Hightower, chair of the School Board of Escambia County (Fla.) and Malcolm Thomas, Superintendent of Schools, announced the schedule for five community forums, four in Pensacola and one in Cantonment, planned to give everyone a chance to share their input as the board moves closer to advertising the position of
Escambia County Schools Superintendent this spring.
These community forums will be facilitated by the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) Search Team. All input gathered dur- ing the events will be collect- ed and provided to the Escambia County School Board members and will be available online after the board receives the informa- tion.
“These focus group and
community forums, in addi- tion to the online survey, are designed to give the general public the opportunity to tell us their desires for the next Superintendent, and for the public to have access to infor- mation related to the progress of the search for an appointed superintendent,” said Hightower. “The board mem- bers and I want to make this process as transparent as pos- sible. The search team will lead the participants through
conversations that will help us identify our school dis- trict’s strengths and weak- nesses, and allow them to have a chance to tell us what skills should be present in the next superintendent.”
“Our search team consists of professional educators from around the state who have helped other districts through this process, and they too believe these meet- ings are critically important. We hope everyone with an
interest in Escambia County’s public schools will attend at least one of the Community Input sessions that fits their schedule,” added Hightower.
Community forum and town hall events are open to the general public. Meetings in Pensacola will be held: at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 24, in Room 160 of the J.E. Hall Center, 30 E. Texar Dr.: at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 14, in the cafeteria at Blue Angels
Elementary School, 1551 Dogtrack Rd.; at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 21, in the cafe- teria at Pensacola High School, 500 W. Maxwell St.; and at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 7, in the cafeteria at Beulah Middle School, 6001 W. Nine Mile Rd.
In Cantonment, at 6 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 9, in the cafete- ria at Tate High School, 1771 Tate Road, Cantonment, FL 32533.
