Stonington — The Board of Education will begin gathering public input on what the town should be looking for in its next superintendent of schools when it holds a virtual parent forum on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.  

The board is in the process of finding a replacement for Van Riley, who has told the board he is retiring after nine years of leading the district. His contract ends in June. The board has formed a search committee to help select the superintendent. Last month, the committee interviewed three firms and decided to hire New England School Development Council, or NESDEC, at a cost of $17,000 to assist in the search.

Elizabeth Osga, a former assistant superintendent of schools in Stonington who is now a consultant with NESDEC, will lead the search efforts. She was named the 2011 Connecticut superintendent of the year while leading the Lyme-Old Lyme district.  

School board Chairman Farouk Rajab said Osga had the most intimate knowledge of the school system. He said she will hold focus groups over the next seven days with school administrators, teachers, students, parents and residents and also will interview others, such as community organizations, the teachers' union president, members of the selectmen and finance boards and police. She then will report back to the search committee on what qualities the community would like to see in a new superintendent. 

Osga will first meet with interested parents in Wednesday's virtual focus group. Parents can join the forum by visiting bit.ly/stsuperforum or by dialing (646) 558-8656. The webinar ID is 89343222419# and the passcode is 368638. Participants can press *9 to raise their hand and comment.

Parents also can participate in a brief survey at surveymonkey.com/r/VGQCQWJ.

Rajab said the board's goal is to appoint a superintendent on or before March 31 with a start date of July 1.