BMS Principal Smith Named New Superintendent

According to a Thursday night Board of Education newsletter, Bethel Middle School Principal Dr. Kevin J. Smith has been selected as Bethel Public Schools' next superintendent.

He will succeed Dr. Gary Chesley who after 13 years of service. 

The newsletter said the following:

At this evening's meeting, Bethel Board of Education, elected Dr. Kevin Smith to the position of Superintendent of Schools replacing Dr. Gary Chesley who announced his retirement this past summer after serving as Bethel’s Superintendent of Schools for 13 years.

Smith has served as principal of the Bethel Middle School since 2006. Previously he worked as principal of the Sacred Heart School, the largest K-8 parochial elementary school in the New York Diocese located in the Bronx. Smith is also an adjunct professor at Fordham University. 

The unanimous vote of the Bethel Board of Education marks the conclusion of a search process that started in July shortly after  Chesley’s announcement. Smith will work with Chesley, who will serve as Interim Superintendent through the transition process.

Smith’s official starting date will be February 1, 2012.    

The Board of Education pursued a clearly defined and rigorous plan of action in its search to find a new Superintendent of Schools. Advertisements were placed in Education Week in July and August. This weekly education journal has approximately 400,000 subscribers. The job notice was also placed on-line on Top School Jobs.org; on K-12 Jobs Spot.com; on CT Reap.com; and with the National Education Association’s database.  Search efforts solicited 21 applications from nine different states. 

Chesley and Catherine Richard, Bethel resident and former principal of Danbury High School, did the initial screening of the 21 candidates on behalf of the Board of Education. They held hour-long discussions with the candidates to determine their suitability to continue with the application process. Six candidates were eventually recommended to the board based upon their qualifications, employment history and areas of expertise. 

The Board worked many evenings preparing for the actual interviewing process. They identified priorities for the next Superintendent as well as the qualities they felt were essential for the next leader of Bethel’s School System. The Board met with school administrators and teachers in focus groups to hear their expectations as well as what they believed the requirements should be for the new Superintendent of Schools. The Board also considered comments and input from parents and individual citizens. 

The Board systematically reviewed the credentials of the recommended candidates and completed two rounds of intensive interviews, first with six candidates and then, on November 15, with the four finalists. Finalists spent about three hours answering approximately 40 board questions through the entire interview process. The Board held intensive discussions after each round of in-depth interviews to narrow the field. 

Lawrence Craybas, Board Chairman stated: “The community should be extremely satisfied and very proud of the process the Board followed. Board members clearly weighed the gravity of this decision through every step of the selection process.  We had an extraordinary talented and diverse pool of candidates who were highly interested in the Bethel position.  We thank our staff members for their excellent insights.  We worked through a defined process to make sure that our schools will be lead by a person who will continue our primary focus on growing student achievement, accelerate our trajectory to excellence, and help us build on a truly great school system in the years ahead.”