This week offers several chances — both in person and online — for the public to give input that will be used in the selection of the next superintendent of the Lawrence school district.

Superintendent Rick Doll is leaving at the end of this school year, and the district plans to hire his replacement by the end of March.

There will be five public input sessions, one at each of the district’s four middle schools and another at district offices. Every session is open to the public, and parents or community members can attend any of meetings, regardless of where they live.

At the sessions, the public can provide input to the search firm McPherson & Jacobson LLC about community and district strengths, issues and challenges, and the desired characteristics of a superintendent.

If you can’t make any of the times or would rather not say all of your opinions in the public sessions, you can complete an online version of the same survey between Jan. 13 and Jan. 20 on the district’s website.

The firm will review the input and deliver a summary report to the Lawrence school board. The desired characteristics of a superintendent will be used — along with the same information provided by members of the board — to develop a candidate profile to evaluate the applicants to the position.

The public sessions are as follows:

Jan. 13:

• 5:30-6:15 p.m. at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School cafeteria, 1400 Massachusetts St.

• 6:30-7:15 p.m. at South Middle School cafeteria, 2734 Louisiana St.

Jan. 14:

• noon-12:45 p.m. Multipurpose room (upstairs) at Lawrence School District Office, 110 McDonald Drive. Bring your own lunch.

• 6-6:45 p.m. West Middle School library, 2700 Harvard Road.

• 7-7:45 p.m. Southwest Middle School cafeteria, 2511 Inverness Drive.

The district has also scheduled input sessions this week for its high school students, certified teachers, classified staff members and school and district administrators. The schedule for the staff input sessions is available here.