Ferndale schools holding meetings to begin search for new superintendent

FERNDALE — Back in October, it was announced that Bobbie Hayes Goodrum was stepping down as superintendent of Ferndale Public Schools.

In the months since, the district hired firm Ray and Associates to facilitate the search for a new superintendent, who is expected to start working for the district July 1.

Board of Education President Sandra Dukhie stated that the district is at the start of the search process and will be having stakeholder meetings with community members throughout the month to help gather information on what kind of superintendent will be the best fit for Ferndale.

“We also have some surveys online that we’re asking the community to complete, including students, parents and anyone in the community who is willing to offer up their opinion about what we need in our next leader,” she said.

The district held scheduled stakeholder meetings Jan. 8-9, after press time. The next meeting dates will be 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, in The Nest at Ferndale High School, 881 Pinecrest Drive, and a virtual meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23.

For more information on the meetings and for up-to-date times, dates and locations, visit ferndaleschools.org/district/newsuper.

The meetings will be run by the search firm, Dukhie said, and attendees can ask questions, which will help inform its job posting.

“I can tell you that we start with the stakeholder meetings. Then the board working with the firm will draft a profile based on what we hear, and we’ll post the position; an actual posting will go out,” she said. “That posting will go out, I believe, in the month of February. So we expect applicants to apply the entire month of February. I can tell you that interviews will be in March.”

After Goodrum’s resignation, the Board of Education moved to appoint Assistant Superintendent Camille Hibbler as interim superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Operations Felicia Wright as deputy superintendent while the district prepared for the search process.

Hibbler could not be reached for comment on taking on the superintendent role in the interim, but Dukhie stated Hibbler’s and Wright’s appointments were made to help maintain the district’s business without causing too much disruption.

“This district is in a good place, right?” she said. “We felt like having internal candidates who know the district, know the work that we were already beginning to do and could continue that work without having to learn the culture and, you know, the nature of the business would be the most convenient while we got ready to start this actual superintendent search.”