Berkley School District Communications Supervisor Shira Good to Say Farewell

Communications Supervisor Shira Good will be leaving the at the end of the month to take a position with the district.

The Bloomfield Hills Board of Education appointed Good director of communications and community relations, effective Feb. 1, during a meeting last Thursday.

Bloomfield Hills Superintendent Rob Glass said Good was chosen after a four-tier selection process that whittled down a field of at least 150 applicants. He touted her professional experience in Germany and with the Berkley School District, as well as a strong background in electronic communications.

“That includes television, websites, social media and I think that’s going to be a real asset going forward,” Glass said.

He also noted that Good, who grew up in Huntington Woods, completed her degree at Boston's Emerson College in less than three years and served as an intern on the hit TV show The West Wing.

The Bloomfield Hills Schools district is consistently recognized locally and nationwide for student achievement and innovative programs, but isn’t without challenges. Among Good’s initial responsibilities will be to help the district convince voters that a bond of at least $65 million is necessary to merge its two high schools into one. Two similar efforts recently were defeated at the polls.

"Bloomfield has a large challenge ahead and the merger of the two high schools onto one campus has always interested me," Good wrote in an email to Berkley Patch on Friday. "When my colleague in Bloomfield announced she was leaving for a position with the University of Michigan, I decided to apply for the position. Sometimes an open door presents itself and you just know in your gut that you have to try to walk through it."

In an email Tuesday to Berkley Patch, Berkley Superintendent Michael Simeck said Good has made a number of valuable contributions since she joined the district in December 2008, including:

• Clarifying and implementing the "Berkley brand," which included revamping the district's website, as well as creating and implementing standards for the district's publications. 
• Establishing productive relationships with local media outlets. 
• Formatting the Board of Education's homework for the Federal Relations Network (the annual school board conference Berkley attends in Washington, DC). "These homework assignment products have become blueprints for school boards nationally," Simeck wrote.

"She is full of ideas and incredibly positive," Simeck said. "Shira's glass is half full. She is flexible, fun, passionate about her work, and amazingly resilient."

Until a replacement is found, he said the district "will limp along" with communications work being shared by other staff members.

The Berkley School District has posted the open position on its website; the job description also is attached as a PDF.

"It's such a fun and creative position and I will miss most the amazing and talented people I've been so fortunate to know and learn from these past few years," Good wrote to Berkley Patch.