Stephanie Mishler named interim superintendent for Fairfield schools

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield Curriculum Director Stephanie Mishler will become the district’s interim superintendent following the resignation of Laurie Noll last week.

The Fairfield Community School District Board of Directors discussed Noll’s retirement, which she announced in a news release Thursday, July 13, during Monday’s school board meeting. School board member Tim Bower said the board’s policy states that there is a chain of succession after a superintendent resigns, and the next person in line is the curriculum director, Mishler.

Board member Mark Porter asked Bower if the board was free to appoint anyone it wished to fill the superintendent’s position. Bower said the board’s policy was clear about the curriculum director taking on the responsibilities of superintendent after a resignation, and he added that the appointment is temporary. Porter said that the board was being asked to appoint Mishler “for the remainder of the 2023-24 school year,” and he asked if the board should amend that language.

Bower agreed that the language should reflect the fact that the board is seeking to replace Noll with a permanent superintendent as quickly as possible. Board member Kelly Scott suggested inserting the words “until a suitable candidate is hired” in the language appointing Mishler as superintendent.

“That way, it’s not cut in stone that [the appointment] is until May,” Scott said.

Scott recommended hiring a superintendent search firm to seek out and sort through the applications. He said that, since Noll announced her retirement, the search firm Ray & Associates Inc. of Cedar Rapids had already reached out to the district to offer its services.

Bower said he liked Scott’s suggested change, because he didn’t want to create the impression with the public that the board was waiting until July 1, 2024 to find a new superintendent. Bower said that community members and stakeholders in the district will be part of the committee that reviews superintendent applicants.

“I will be honest with everybody, though we’re going as quickly as we want to do, the reality is, they might not be there,” Bower said, referring to the pool of superintendent applicants. “A lot of superintendents out there already got jobs, and we might not find one that can be released until later.”

Stephanie Mishler joined the Fairfield Community School District in 2018 as the high school’s associate principal. Last year, Mishler took over the role of curriculum director from previous curriculum director Chuck Benge.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com