Dexter Schools Narrow Down Superintendent Selection to 1

By Larry Cobler, President, Dexter Board of Education

On Monday night the Board of Education unanimously voted to continue the Superintendent selection process with Dr. Chris Timmis, Superintendent at Adrian Public Schools.

While this is somewhat unusual to go through the interview and selection process with only one candidate, Board members reviewed the entire list of over 30 other applicants with our consultant from Michigan Leadership Institute, Mike Wilmot, and concluded that Dr. Timmis was really the only candidate that might fit the culture in Dexter and meet our leadership needs.

Dr. Timmis will go through a thorough review and interview process similar to what Dexter has done in the past so that he can meet with all stakeholder groups in the district. We will take feedback from all those groups and will culminate the process with a formal public interview, after which the Board will consider all input and make a decision to either select Dr. Timmis as our Superintendent or continue the search process with another candidate.Through our research process and informal conversations with Dr. Timmis, it is clear he is someone who can take Dexter in a direction that I believe we all want to go.

The Board is especially impressed with the way he has been able to go into Adrian Public Schools and turn around the district in such a short period of time. His accomplishments have been recognized by many in the State, including Mike Flanagan, State Superintendent of Education, who Tweeted – “I visited Adrian Schools today. If you want to experience school improvement in action, connect with them.” That is what we want to see in Dexter as we move from a good district to a great district.

In addition, Dr. Timmis has been a Superintendent for some time and would bring his experiences to Dexter. He has shown great capacity to build programs and stimulate the surrounding community and others to get involved and contribute to the district. He is someone with vision who will not just be there but will challenge others to think big.

For all these reasons the Board is excited for everyone to meet him and discuss with him their thoughts and then provide us with their feedback.

We appreciate the patience our community and staff have shown as we have gone through the search process to this point. We hope everyone can stay connected with us just a bit longer as we progress to a final decision. In the next few days we will be working with Mike Wilmot and Dr. Timmis to set up times for groups to meet him. We will communicate those times through email, the media, and the District website. If you have questions please contact the District Office.