Mid-Prairie selects superintendent committee

WELLMAN — The Mid-Prairie school board selected three members for a committee that will narrow down its applicant pool as the district searches for its next superintendent.

“Grundmeyer’s plan is to have board members do a 30-minute interview with eight to 10 candidates from that applicant pool, select two or three candidates to bring on-site for a larger group of 30-40 folks to participate in those interviews,” board President Jeremy Pickard said. “After those are done, the candidates will meet with the entire board.”

Pickard recommended himself, board Vice President Marianne Schlabach and board member Denise Chittick for the role.

“I was trying to figure out how you go about selecting another person because I know a number of other folks have interest in doing that,” he said. “My recommendation on that would be Denise just because of her longevity on the board, she has been a former vice president of the board.”

Other board members said they agreed with Pickard’s plan.

“I’m sure all the rest of us that weren’t mentioned would like to be on that, but I understand your thought process,” Board Member Jed Seward said. “I’m not very concerned that the three of you that are on the board will not be as transparent as possible … narrowing it down to two or three, it’s a pretty important step and I understand that the last two or three applicants are going to be interviewed by everybody, but going from eight to two or eight to three is a bigger step.”

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