Public Education Partners will sponsor an open forum Thursday to give community residents an opportunity to express and discuss the characteristics desired in a new superintendent of Aiken County schools.
The forum will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Business and Education Building, Room 122, at USC Aiken.
"Since one of our primary initiatives is to create an awareness of and an engagement in dialogue regarding important education matters in our community, we felt it was an appropriate project," said Liz Stewart, chairwoman of the board of directors of PEP. "This forum represents an important opportunity for the community to provide input into a very important decision. This session is open to all members of our community and will be based on the World Cafe process facilitated by Geof Fountain."
The World Cafe process will enable all participants to engage in small group discussions about what they would like to see in the next superintendent of education.
The convening room will be arranged into tables for four, with one volunteer at each table recording the dialogue. After 10 to 15 minutes of dialogue, three of the four at each table will move to three other tables. The recorder will remain at the table.
The dialogue will repeat again with new groups of four, each person bringing the results of their initial discussion to the new groups. The recorders will capture additional qualities generated by the second group discussions.
After 10 to 15 minutes, three of the four at each table will get up and move to three other tables.
A third round of dialogue will occur, with participants summarizing what they learned in the first two dialogue sessions. The groups will synergize their multiple dialogues and identify additional qualities. The recorders will capture any new emerging qualities.
After the third round, each table recorder will share the discoveries and insights in a whole-group conversation. Others will add clarification and detail.
Through these town meeting-style conversations, patterns can be identified; collective knowledge grows; and possibilities emerge, Stewart said.
A combined list of qualities will be generated from the whole-group briefing and will be prioritized by the group. This prioritized list, along with the recorders' lists, will be submitted to the members of Aiken County School Board members for their consideration in the selection process for the new superintendent.
In January, Dr. Beth Everitt, the current school superintendent, announced that she will retire at the end of July.
Diana Floyd, vice chairwoman of the PEP board of directors, presented the plan to hold community input forums as information to the Aiken County School Board in early March.
The School Board responded to PEP's plan in a letter dated March 3, saying, "We will welcome the results of your proposed plan of engagement along with a description of the preferred characteristics for an ideal superintendent which the group may derive.
"The Board would consider your proposal to be an independent opportunity for such discussions sponsored by Public Education Partners, but serving as an adjunct opportunity to the District's efforts to garner community involvement in this process."
To reserve a seat at the forum, call the PEP office at 803-649-9040.
A native of Aiken, Larry Wood is a general assignment reporter.