PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Consultants from Finding Leaders reported to the Perrysburg Exempted Village Board of Education on Dec. 22 that community and staff focus groups pointed to a district that is widely valued but facing fiscal and facilities pressures, and that stakeholders want a superintendent who is both a relationship builder and an effective instructional leader.

The consultants, Steve Farnsworth and Melissa Conrath, told the board that they conducted 13 focus groups with representative internal and external stakeholders and distilled responses into common themes. "We wanted them to share what was on their mind," Conrath said, describing four buckets of findings the consultants brought to the board.

Why it matters: The search will shape the district’s next leader at a moment when enrollment growth, failed bond requests and reliance on residential property taxes are straining capacity and budget choices. Finding Leaders emphasized that the next superintendent will need to communicate those fiscal realities to the community while also building trust.

Key findings and concerns
- Strengths: Focus-group participants consistently praised the quality of teachers, student achievement and community support for the schools. Conrath said participants described Perrysburg as a desirable community with many extracurricular opportunities.
- Leadership profile: Respondents repeatedly named visibility, strong communication and relationship-building as essential traits. Farnsworth said the most frequent answer to whether the district needs a "healer" or a "driver" was that the district needs both, but that "right now we need a healer" to restore relationships before pushing further change.
- Residency: The consultants reported a split in views on whether the superintendent should be required to live inside the district. Farnsworth told the board the district can impose a residency requirement and cited "33 19.01" when explaining that legal option, but he warned that such a requirement could limit the candidate pool.
- Facilities and growth: Consultants said rapid community growth has increased enrollment pressures, produced portable classrooms, and followed unsuccessful bond efforts, creating an urgent need for a long-term facilities plan tied to community engagement.
- Fiscal concerns: Participants worried some budget cuts made earlier would be expected to be restored despite board statements that cuts were permanent. Consultants also flagged pending changes at the state level that could affect property-tax funding for the district.

Board questions and process next steps
Board members asked several clarifying questions about what the focus groups meant by expectations for restored programs and how a new superintendent should handle those expectations. Finding Leaders recommended a recruitment timeline: semifinalists will be recommended to the board on Feb. 3, semifinalist interviews scheduled for mid-February, stakeholder and finalist interviews later in February, and the board expects to hire a superintendent on Feb. 26. (The consultants’ packet contained date references that appeared to list 2013 in one place; consultants and board members discussed the schedule as a late-February 2026 hiring finish.)

The consultants also provided 14 sample interview questions and additional advice from stakeholders to guide semifinalist and finalist interviews.

What happens next
Finding Leaders will vet applicants and present a slate of semifinalists to the board. The board did not take formal hiring action at the Dec. 22 meeting; consultants said most application materials are expected in mid-January and that semifinalist recommendations will follow the timeline above.

— End of report —