Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Bill Newman, an executive director with search firm Ray and Associates, speaks during the forum regarding the search for Montgomery County's new school superintendent in Christiansburg High School's auditorium Tuesday.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Montgomery County's new superintendent must understand that the county's 20 schools are in four distinct areas and nurture the strengths of each while finding a way to unite them.

That's the resounding message that representatives from Ray and Associates -- the search firm charged with finding a replacement for former Superintendent Tiffany Anderson, who left the district in June -- heard during a series of meetings Tuesday and Wednesday.

Most people said the different strands -- Auburn, Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Eastern Montgomery -- for too long have been treated as separate, and sometimes unequal, entities.

That idea was repeated during nearly all the hour-long meetings the firm held with groups such as principals, teachers, students, parents, staff and elected officials. The goal of each session was to decide what qualifications the next schools leader should have and what issues should be the priority.

"That's a theme we've heard all day," said Bill Newman, an executive director with the firm. "Obviously, it's important."

Other top issues residents list are maintaining programs during tight financial times and shortening student achievement gaps.

The input gathered, including a survey that residents can fill out online, will be put into a superintendent profile that the Montgomery County School Board is expected to finalize Aug. 20. The firm will use the profile to vet applicants for the job and interested candidates should do the same.

Two public forums, one Tuesday night and one at 7 a.m. Wednesday, designed to cull the same information from the public drew a small crowd -- fewer than 20 people -- many of whom either had already spoken up at earlier sessions or were school board members. Only one person attended Wednesday's session.

Still, school officials said they see no need to worry about apathy.

"We really don't make it an indicator," said interim superintendent Walt Shannon. "One could assume that the community is OK with the school board having enough input to develop the profile for it [the position]."

He said he expects more residents will be more active for forums planned when finalists are brought to Montgomery County for in-person interviews, which are likely to take place the third week of November.

Applications will be accepted through Oct. 27. Meanwhile, the firm's associates across the country will make contact with people they think would fit the position profile.

The position already has been advertised on the firm's Web site and education trade magazines with a salary in the range of $150,000.

After applications are received, the firm will narrow them to about a dozen based on the profile, Newman said.

Al Johnson, an associate with the firm, told parents concerned that their input would end with the sessions, that they'll have other chances to meet the prospective candidates.

The state requires the school board to have a superintendent by December, 180 days after Anderson left the post.

The start time for a candidate would depend on his or her current contractual obligations, Thompson said.