Oxford schools live-streaming interviews for its next superintendent

Interviews for a new superintendent at Oxford Community Schools start Monday evening and are being live-streamed for the public.

The district's Board of Education will be interviewing five candidates this week and is expected to select finalists on Thursday. The candidates include three Oxford school administrators and two Metro Detroit school administrators.

Monday's interviews are with John Bernia, chief academic officer at Warren Consolidated Schools and Ken Weaver, Oxford's deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

Tuesday's candidates are Jill Lemond, Oxford's assistant superintendent of student services and David Pass, Oxford's assistant superintendent of human resources.

Wednesday's candidate is Todd Bidlack, assistant superintendent of learning services at Bloomfield Hills Schools.

The meetings all begin at 6:30 p.m. The interviews will be held in person at Oxford Middle School where the public can submit feedback forms on each candidate at the meeting, after the interviews. Those watching virtually will not have the ability to submit feedback, district officials said.

Finalist interviews are set for Feb. 16 and Feb. 17. Each finalist will meet with stakeholder groups prior to board interviews, school officials said.

A new superintendent is expected to be chosen on March 4 with final board approval expected on March 14.

The first day of work for the new superintendent is expected to be on March 28.

Oxford Community Schools Superintendent Tim Throne announced he was delaying his retirement on Dec. 13 as the school district worked to rebuild and recover from a mass shooting that killed four high school students on Nov. 30.

Throne's last scheduled day was to be Jan. 21.

Throne had announced his retirement plans at the start of the new school year and the district began its search for a new leader in October. His four-year contract was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2022. His base salary is $206,811.

Throne is named as one of several defendants in a $100 million lawsuit filed by two survivors of the shooting at Oxford High school that accuses school officials of failing to stop an attack that inflicted physical and psychological injuries on students.

The four Oxford High School students killed in the shooting were Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; and Justin Shilling, 17. 

jchambers@detroitnews.com