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Eagle Point seeks leader from district Officials want one who'll continue community control of school policies By VICKI GUARINO EAGLE POINT -- Leadership is changing, but the 4,000-student school district is looking to continue innovations and community control of local schools. To maintain efforts begun under outgoing Superintendent Ted Adams, school officials will look first within the district for his successor. Board members, along with board members-elect who take office July 1, agree that Eagle Point should continue in its present direction, and doing so with a superintendent from outside the northeast Jackson County school district would be difficult. Board chairwoman Cheryl Stout, one of two members leaving the board in July, said incoming board members are participating in the selection process. Before making any hiring decisions, however, board members say they want to hear from residents. The board will hold a community forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 1, in Eagle Point High School's large group room to take suggestions on what residents want in a new school superintendent. The board is facing a tight deadline for filling the top position. Adams intends to leave July 1 for his new assignment as superintendent of the 13,000-student Ogden, Utah, district. "The board wants to have someone on board by then, even if it is interim," Stout said. "We don't like the idea of not having the stability of a permanent person. We would like to have a permanent person on board, but it has to be the right person." The board is expecting to review applications from district employees on June 9. Stout said a hiring decision on that date "is very possible." If Eagle Point succeeds in making an in-house promotion, it would be the second Jackson County school district to take that course this year. In January, the Central Point board appointed education director Candy Manary district superintendent. She takes over for Mike McClain, who is retiring at the end of the school year. Manary and McClain have worked closely with district staff to overhaul curriculum and adopt academic and character-building performance standards for all of that district's 4,500 students. Like board members in Eagle Point, officials in Central Point agreed early in the selection process that they would prefer hiring within the district so that the new superintendent would began work with a broad knowledge of district programs. Manary was one of two Central Point administrators holding state superintendent credentials, and the only applicant for the job. In Eagle Point, no administrator has the state credential, but provisions allow the state to grant temporary waivers. A number of Eagle Point administrators have been taking the college classes necessary for the license. Stout said the board wants someone who can carry on with the district's decentralized approach to management. Schools in the district's four communities largely govern themselves through councils made up of staff, students, parents and community members. In addition to holding the public forum next month, the board also is accepting written comments and suggestions. Comments should be submitted by June 1 to the district office, P.O. Box 548, Eagle Point, OR 97524. About a dozen district employees already have submitted written comments, Stout said. "Most everybody wants to continue in the direction we're going in," she said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA