PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: March 4, 2010 Contact: Glenn Iannaccone, Chairperson Norwalk Board of Education Finalist Selected in Norwalk Board of Education Search for Superintendent ‘The Norwalk Board of Education announces the identification of a finalist in the search for Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Susan Marks, currently the Associate Superintendent for the Office of Human Resources for the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Rockville, Maryland will move on to the final phase in the selection process. Dr. Marks will be visiting Norwalk on Monday and Tuesday, March 8 & 9, to tour schools and meet with various members of the Norwalk Public School staff. Parents and community members are invited to meet her on Monday March 8 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the Community Room at City Hall. Dr. Marks has worked in public education for over 30 years, most of her experience has been in the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), however, she has worked in two other public school systems and on the college level. With 200 schools, MCPS is the 16th largest and one of the most successful school systems in the United States. Dr. Marks entered the field of education as a speech and language pathologist and received her certification as a special education teacher. For over 15 years, she was school based as a teacher, assistant principal and principal. As a principal, she led two elementary schools and implemented innovative and successful instructional programs As the interim Chief Information Officer she led the development of the technology plan that included the vision for instructional technology, business and operations systems. She also has successful experience in sound fiscal practices and management of district resources. As a community superintendent, Dr. Marks led a district comprised of 30 schools serving over 26,000 students. She was responsible for supervising all principals and monitoring the instructional programs and ensuring academic results. The four high schools in this area offered various science programs (biotechnology, engineering, nutritional and environmental), Communications, Humanities, as well as, an Intemational Baccalaureate Program, Under her leadership, the IB program was expanded to theMiddle School and was very successful in bringing students back to the public schools from private schools. She is a strong and successful instructional leader. During her tenure as the Community Superintendent, the schools she supervised demonstrated high performance on various measures including increased participation and performance in AP and Honors courses, SAT, increased participation and completion of Algebra in 8th grade and improved performance on all state and national measures. In her current role, Dr. Marks ensures the compliance and implementation of all personnel processes including recruiting, selecting, and evaluating teachers, administrators and support professionals. Glenn Iannaccone, Chair of the Norwalk Board of Education said, “Our community was fortunate to attract an outstanding slate of highly qualified candidates, However, in reviewing Dr. Mark’s wide ranging experience, areas of expertise and distinguished record of success, she emerged as the finalist whose strengths would best serve Norwalk Public Schools and the Norwalk community.”