The South Euclid-Lyndhurst Board of Education is hosting a welcome reception for our new Superintendent of Schools, Linda N. Reid. The Open House will be on Wednesday, April 18th at 7:30 PM at the Board of Education Auditorium at 5044 Mayfield Road. 

During a special meeting on Friday, April 13, 2012, the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Board of Education voted unanimously to extend an offer to Linda N. Reid to serve as the next Superintendent of Schools.

Effective August 1, 2012, Ms. Reid will begin a three year term as Superintendent. Ms. Reid comes to South Euclid-Lyndhurst after having served as Superintendent of Schools in Garfield Heights following a successful career as a teacher, Principal, Curriculum Director and Assistant Superintendent. She received a B.S. from Kent State University, her M. Ed. from John Carroll University and her Superintendent’s License from Cleveland State University.

South Euclid-Lyndhurst began its search for a new Superintendent in December by conducting 15 focus group meetings to gather input from community leaders, students, administrators, staff members, parents and residents regarding what were felt to be important, salient characteristics and qualifications to look for in the next leader of schools. Using that information, a search was conducted with the guidance of Finding Leaders, a search firm whose mission is to help identify and select successful leaders. The pool of over 60 applicants was narrowed down to six for the Board to consider. Two candidates were selected by the Board to be interviewed in a forum where representatives from each of seven major stakeholder groups (community leader, administrator, teacher, support staff, extracurricular, student, parent) were given the opportunity to question the candidates while approximately 75 additional stakeholders observed the process. Following the final interview, the stakeholders were then given the opportunity to provide their thoughts and input.

Dave Frey, Lyndhurst City Council Member stated, “I believe Linda will be a good fit for our community and our district. She has worked closely with the City of Garfield Heights, both Police and the administration, and seems to be all about building consensus. She also appears to be someone that can and will get things done. Linda has experience in dealing with levies and understands the sense of urgency we face with our school funding, our test scores and our achievement gap. These qualities and characteristics all came out of the focus groups that were used to narrow down the list of the candidate(s) that would best fit our needs.”

“The Board listened to the focus groups and the stakeholder sessions and took everything into consideration in making this decision. We firmly believe that the desired attributes shared by the community during this process are evident in Linda. We are excited for our future. Linda reminded us that although we face many challenges, there is also the potential for tremendous opportunity,” stated Stefanie Rhine, South Euclid-Lyndhurst School Board President. “