Beaverton School Board hears presentations from three superintendent-search firms; committee to recommend vendor tomorrow

Sept. 25, 2025 — The Beaverton School Board heard 40-minute presentations from three finalist superintendent-search firms on Thursday as the district moves toward selecting a vendor to lead its superintendent search. The school’s staff reported the search committee received seven proposals and unanimously advanced three firms to finalist interviews.

The presentations and question-and-answer sessions focused on stakeholder engagement, candidate vetting and reference checks, confidentiality protocols, timelines and fees. Carrie Delph, a staff member coordinating the process, told the board, “we did receive 7 proposals from search firms across the country,” and that board members should record feedback on standardized scoring sheets that will be shared with the superintendent search committee.

Why this matters: The firm selected will run outreach and vetting that shape the candidate pool for Beaverton’s next superintendent, including how the district collects input from multilingual families, historically marginalized groups and staff. Board members said they expect the chosen firm to produce a superintendent profile grounded in community input and hard evidence about candidates’ instructional and fiscal track records.

Most important points

- Process and next steps: Delph explained that the search committee, formed Aug. 12 and working from evaluation criteria set at an Aug. 26 retreat, narrowed seven proposals to three finalists. The committee will meet tomorrow to synthesize board feedback and recommend a single firm; the full board will meet tomorrow evening to decide. All scoring sheets and feedback are public record and will be collected at the end of the session. Board members were given a ranked-preference form to submit at the close of tonight’s session.

- Presentations: McPherson & Jacobson (national search firm) opened the evening. Dr. Steven Louder, listed as a…