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Medford School District officials are seeking community input as they kick off a search for a new superintendent. "We are trying to reach as many different people as we can to get input from everybody," said Cynthia Wright, chair of the Medford School Board. The board will hear from a variety of stakeholders Thursday regarding the superintendent decision, ranging from leaders in the business community to heads of partner nonprofits to union leaders and others. A forum will be held in the school district boardroom, 815 S. Oakdale Ave., Medford, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, to give parents, students and others an opportunity to give feedback on the priorities they want the school board to focus on when choosing candidates for the job. That could mean professional qualities, project priorities and relevant experience the board should consider when advertising and filling the position. Medford’s superintendent since 2014, Brian Shumate, was hired Feb. 21 as the superintendent of Troup County School System in Georgia. Shumate will leave his position after June 30, the end of his contract year. Come July 1, the board wants the superintendent position to be filled and is looking to hire someone by mid or late April. In a special board meeting Feb. 21, the board decided to contract with HYA Associates to recruit and vet applicants for the job. The next week, once it was certain that Shumate would be leaving Medford, the board awarded the contract to the Illinois-based consulting firm, which has helped with 1,400 superintendent searches in school districts ranging from fewer than 100 to more than 640,000 students, according to its project proposal for Medford. “We want the highest quality people possible to apply,” Wright said. “And that’s what they’re good at, is finding those people.” Community members who are unable to attend the superintendent search forum Thursday can submit feedback at [email protected].