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The Superintendent Search Continues at Community Nights

Sharing Space...

Those who work in, have students attending, or have a vested interest in the education and growth of Asheville may already be aware of the Superintendent Search forums currently happening. Asheville City Schools (ACS) are looking for its seventh superintendent since 2013. However, those who have attended multiple superintendent search forums may find that this search deviates from the usual path.

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UWABC, Kyle Garett, speaks to the audience before the fourm begins. He underscored the importance of sharing space.

Although not by much, the Asheville City School Board has decided to make a few changes to the structure, including adding Asheville-based Summit Search Solutions Inc., which will provide full service in helping Asheville City Schools find the next superintendent by June of 2023. Some of the services Summit Search Solutions plans on providing include community conversations, prospect research, outreach/recruiting, assessment, candidate profiling, candidate management, search process management, as well as comprehensive reference and background checking, and offer negotiation.

Asheville City Schools has also, been traveling to various community centers to receive public feedback. Though this is not a new tactic, this is the first time ACS has decided to use United Way’s Community Nigths featuring Homework Diners as a space to invite both students, staff, and families together to share a meal and give input on what values they are looking for in a superintendent.

The placement of both community-centered events at the same time and place allowed for new people to be exposed to Community Nights. This event partnership also highlighted an opportunity that United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County want more community organizations to utilize. 

Community Nights featuring Homework Diners have a strong and consistent base of students and families that reap the benefits of all Community Nights offers. Something beautiful happens when our partners and other community organizations combine like-minded events with the Community Night. 

Not only do the organizations get to build connections with each other, but often families and students get exposed to new services or information that can be extremely helpful. This, in turn, also helps build the foundations of a connected school community, one where students and families are connected to one another and have personal relationships with the organizations or programs provided.

 

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A family goes through the line to recieve dinner at the AMS Community Night.
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A student and teacher work together to slove a homework problem.

This was the case for the Asheville Middle School Community Night and the superintendent search forum jointly hosted in the AMS cafeteria. Individual AMS students, alongside educators, and parents, shared the space. Some students got homework help; one family ate together while listening to the Superintendent Search forum; all enjoyed the catering funded by UWABC and provided by Cooking with Comedy.

 

These are exactly the scenes we hope to co-create with our partner organizations and beyond. We are happy to say that the ACS board will continue to utilize Community Nights featuring Homework Diners during the continuation of the Superintendent search forum. The next community search forum in conjunction with a Community Night is at Asheville High School (AHS) on March 1st. This particular night will focus on youth voices; while parents and educators are welcome, the encouragement is for students to let their voices be heard.

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A student reacts to a joke from a friend in between working on homework.

 

 

Find a Community Night featuring Homework Diners near YOU!

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Community Schools
Education