The Selma City School Board is looking for feedback from the community to help them hire a new superintendent for the school system.

A survey asking community members to determine traits and characteristics of Selma City Schools’ next leader went live Thursday at www.surveymonkey.com/r/B3F7VQV.

“We really want the community to be involved in this process. We want input,” said Johnny Moss, president of the school board. “We really want to get this search right, and we want the community to embrace this process to help us pick the new superintendent.”

Dr. Angela Mangum, who served as superintendent since March 2015, resigned last month.

Moss said getting feedback is an important part of this process, and he encourages everyone to take the survey.

“We really want the community involved in it,” he said. “We want parents, we want business leaders, we want church leaders, we want just citizens because ultimately this process is very important to the future of Selma.”

Four parts of the survey will help the board determine what to look for in the next superintendent.

The first part asks the community to rank the importance of experience in 12 different areas, such as past experience managing a school system.

The second part asks the community to rank the importance of having a doctorate or master’s degree, serving as a superintendent previously and having teaching experience.

The third part lists 10 different issues or challenges the school system faces, and the fourth section asks the importance of characteristics, such as accountability, friendliness, knowledge and other traits.

“The feedback will go into the job description, and we’ll take those traits and skillsets the community said they would like to see in the new superintendent and build the job description from that language,” Moss said.

The survey will be up for two weeks, and once it is taken down and the data is compiled, it will be used in the next step of the process.

“After two weeks, we’ll reassess and develop the job description,” Moss said. “Then we’ll put the job listing out for 30 days as required by law. Afterward, we’ll identify the five top candidates, and we’ll interview them in a public interview process.”

Moss said the school board voted this week to do the search in house instead of hiring an outside firm to conduct the search for the board. Katy Campbell, the school board attorney, is assisting in the process, as well as other consultants.

Moss said the board hopes to have a new superintendent in place by the start of the school year or soon after. Arthur Capers will continue to serve as interim superintendent.

The results of the survey are anonymous.