The Board of Education anticipates appointing the district’s new superintendent at its business meeting scheduled for this Thursday, March 31. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Elwood Middle School auditorium.

The Board’s announcement comes after an extensive search for a new leader after current Superintendent of Schools Peter Scordo announced his pending retirement last summer.

The Board selected Western Suffolk BOCES to assist in its search, as Western Suffolk BOCES has a demonstrated history of success in helping school districts in this type of recruiting. In addition, their services come with no additional fee to the district.

Western Suffolk BOCES began by gathering community input on the qualifications deemed necessary for the new superintendent to possess. A community survey was administered and Western Suffolk BOCES conducted meetings with numerous community organizations, including civic groups, PTAs, local nonprofits and the public library, among others. The survey, along with the community meetings, provided the Board of Education with valuable perspectives in terms of the leader our residents desire for Elwood.

“Ultimately, we were fortunate to have a large pool of extremely qualified candidates express interest in becoming our next leader,” said Board of Education President Andrew L. Kaplan. “Based on the data from the survey and community meetings, we narrowed the field to those candidates that most resembled the qualities, background and experience indicated by the community as its criteria for a new superintendent. From there, the Board conducted numerous interviews and has ultimately selected a new superintendent that we are extremely pleased to introduce to the community this Thursday evening.”