Lebanon narrows superintendent search to three candidates

Apr. 6—The finalists for the vacant Lebanon City Schools superintendent's position will participate in a "Meet and Greet" with key community stakeholders on Wednesday before they enter their final interviews with the Lebanon Board of Education.

The school board interviewed seven candidates in special meetings held on March 29-30.

Board members narrowed the field of finalists to three candidates that includes: — Dr. Thomas Bailey, superintendent of Washington Court House City Schools in Fayette County. — Isaac Seevers, superintendent of Greeneview Local Schools, Greene County. — Dr. Jennifer Penczarski, superintendent of Kenton City Schools, Hardin County.

Interim Superintendent Robert Buskirk, who was among the seven semi-finalists, was not selected as a finalist. He has worked as an administrator in every building in the district for more than 20 years.

Each candidate has already been asked to bring materials with them to introduce themselves when they meet with the Meet and Greet Committee. Each individual committee member will be asked to provide their input on a written rating sheet following each candidate meeting. This data will be collected on Wednesday and shared with the school board, according to consultant K-12Business Consulting Inc.

The consultants are also encouraging the Meet and Greet Committee to ask the finalists various questions such as how they would maintain visibility in the district and work to engage staff, parents and community leaders; how they have helped a district to set a vision and direction and the steps to collaborate with and keep all stakeholders involved in the process; how they have increased diversity and inclusion; how to help students who have fallen behind due to the pandemic; what practices used during the pandemic will be retained moving forward; the importance of communication in the district; and how they would address staff development and build/maintain staff morale.

According to the board's timetable for the superintendent search, the board set April 19 as the estimated date to hire the new superintendent at its regular board meeting. The start date for the new superintendent will be on or before Aug. 1.

The new superintendent will replace Todd Yohey, who retired at the end of 2020. Yohey will be associate director for the Southwest Ohio Computer Association. He served as the district's superintendent since 2016 and has been in public education for 33 years.