MP board prefers interim superintendent

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

As Dr. Mike Wells? tenure at Mt. Pleasant Community School District will draw to a close on July 1, the board of education has elected to find an interim replacement for the upcoming school year.

The board met Monday evening at the community room at Central Office for a work session, especially to create a game plan to find a new superintendent.

Dr. Jon Sheldahl, chief administrator of Great Prairie Area Education Agency (AEA) met with the board to discuss the different routes they could take to find a new leader.

?Our (AEA) intention is not to tell you what is best for your district, but to share options going forward,? said Sheldahl.

Sheldahl presented six options, which included:

? Using a search firm to find a new superintendent;

? Using a search firm to find an interim superintendent;

? The board running a full search to fill the position;

? The board conducting it?s own interim search

? Appoint someone within the district

? To find a district to share a superintendent with

After a brief discussion, it was determined the board would not be able to appoint anyone within the district to the superintendent position, interim or otherwise, as no administrator currently has a superintendent license.

When asked what would be the best option for the district, Sheldahl stated option two or four, both suggested hiring an interim superintendent.

Sheldahl said at this point in the year, most districts have already hired their superintendents for the upcoming year, and the pool of candidates would not be very deep. If the district were to hire an interim, which is typically a retired superintendent, the board would have a year to advertise for the position and find a better fit for the district. Sheldahl added he has a working list of retired superintendents that may be interested in the position.

The consensus of the board was to hire an interim superintendent, with option four, the board, with the help of AEA, will conduct the search themselves. The back-up plan, if the board is unable to find an interim candidate, would be to hire a search firm to help find the administrator.

?With what has gone on in the district over the last year, I think it would be silly to do anything, but find an interim for a year,? said board member Ken Feldmann.

Board president, Regina Erickson, said she hopes to have an interim superintendent in place by the board?s next regularly scheduled meeting on July 13.

However, even if the board were to have an administrator in place by July 13, they would legally have to have someone filling the position between Wells? departure on July 1 and the time a new contract would be in effect. Appointing a temporary superintendent could do this.

?I?m not saying it?s impossible because you could get someone hired (as interim superintendent) by July 1, but it?s probably more likely that you?ll want to work between now and your first meeting of July 13 to interview and select your interim,? said Sheldahl.

Sheldahl said the AEA could provide that position for free. In full disclosure, Sheldahl said he would be the temporary replacement and during part of that time, he would be on vacation. He added he would always be available via phone.

The board agreed to appoint Sheldahl as the temporary superintendent.

As for the interim superintendent, Erickson said she is looking for someone to keep up with the day-to-day duties of the district, to work with the budget ? closing out the books for this past fiscal year?s budget and finalizing the upcoming year?s budget ? be there for professional development planning and registration. Erickson added the interim would also have to be a good collaborator and help with the implementation of the 1:1 program at the middle school as well as previous proposals and contracts with Iowa Wesleyan College, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa.

New board member, David Christensen, said the district?s list requires someone with energy, time and the ability to build relationships.

Board vice president Lonny Morrow said he agreed, but he didn?t want to lose the leadership to keep moving forward. Specifically, Morrow doesn?t want to see new initiatives suffer because the district is in transition.

?I don?t want to lose one because of the other,? said Morrow.

?But you could lose them all if there aren?t relationships,? retorted Christensen.

Christensen said he?d rather slow down than the candidate pool for the full-time superintendent become diminished due to gossip spreading around the state.

?I do get around the state and I don?t like the gossip,? Christensen said.

Christensen said one thing he?s picked up on during his travels is that Mt. Pleasant has too many things on their plate. Instead, he?d rather focus on a few initiatives and be really good at them, rather than spreading the district thin.

?We have no control over that, meanwhile it?s our students that suffer if we don?t keep pressing forward,? said Morrow. ?I don?t want our students to lose out on a year.?

At this point, Sheldahl mentioned the board might want to look for an interim that has mediation and consensus skills.

Erickson told the board to be thinking about questions for interim candidates as well as skills they?d like the individual to bring to the table.

The MPCSD Board of Education will have a special meeting on Monday, June 29, at 6:30 p.m., at Central Office to further discuss finding an interim superintendent. At this time, the board hopes to have a clear list of characteristics and qualifications they would like to see in an interim superintendent.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the board will be Monday, July 13, at 7 p.m., in the High School Media Center.