Birmingham Superintendent Interviews Begin Wednesday

The interviews begin Wednesday night as continues its search for a new superintendent.

The Birmingham Board of Education will . The remaining two candidates will be interviewed Thursday.

Birmingham has been searching for a new superintendent since March, when Superintendent David Larson announced , in Glenbard Township, IL.

The first round of interviews begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday for the following candidates:

• 6 p.m.: Richard Machesky, assistant superintendent of secondary instruction at Troy Public Schools.
• 7 p.m.: Fred Procter, principal at Birmingham's .
• 8 p.m.: Robert Shaner, executive director of instruction and technology at the Warren Consolidated School District.

Meanwhile, the following candidates will be interviewed Thursday, beginning at 6 p.m.:

• 6 p.m.: Daniel Nerad, superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District, in Madison, WI.
• 7 p.m.: John Maloy, superintendent of Aspen School District, in Aspen, CO. 

Following the last interview Thursday, the school board will deliberate and select two to three finalists to return for a second round of interviews beginning June 6. During the final interviews, which will be televised live, candidates will give 15-minute presentations to the school board.

Before even those interviews, however, all finalists will be interviewed by two committees made up of parents, teachers and administrators.

The school board hopes to make its selection by June 11 and have the new superintendent in place by July 1.

Candidates come from within the district and as far away as Colorado

The final five candidates were .  Of those applicants, School Board President Susan Hill said 19 were from Michigan. Applicants included superintendents, principals, college professors and teachers.

Applicants were screened using responses from an online survey completed by 532 community members, as well as from 10 focus groups made up of 95 parents, teachers and community members.

And so, who are the candidates? Here's a closer look at how the Birmingham semifinalists made their way into the interview chair:

• Richard Machesky: Machesky has been with the Troy School District in his current position for four years. Before that, he worked at Utica Community Schools as the executive director of secondary education, a high school principal and an assistant middle school principal. Machesky began his career at Lutheran High School East in Harper Woods as a world history, government and physical education teacher.

• Fred Procter: Procter has been principal of Birmingham's Groves High School since 2001. Before that, he served as the school's athletic director from 1997-2001. Procter has also been the head girls basketball coach at the University of Detroit Mercy, Lake Superior State and the dean of students at St. Martin De Porres High School in Detroit.

• John Maloy: Maloy has been superintendent of the Aspen School District, in Aspen, CO, since 2007. Before that, he was a superintendent with the Bloomington School District, in Bloomington, IN for four years. Maloy also worked for the Michigan City School District, in Michigan City, IN, as a principal and central administrator.

• Daniel Nerad: Nerad is currently the outgoing superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, WI. On March 21, Nerad announced that he wouldn't be seeking an extension of his contract with the Madison district, which expires next June. Nerad has been in Madison since 2008. A former social worker, Nerad also spent six years as a superintendent in Green Bay, WI.

• Robert Shaner: Shaner is currently the executive director of instruction and technology with Warren Consolidated Schools, and has been in that position since 2011. Before that, Shaner spent five years as principal of Sterling Heights High School in Sterling Heights.

Check out Birmingham Schools Superintendent Search 2012 for more on Birmingham Public Schools' search for a new superintendent this spring and summer.