Board moving forward with superintendent search

Talk about it

The St. Croix Central School Board met Monday night to discuss the next steps in the search process to replace current Superintendent Dan Woll when he leaves his post this summer.

The Board presented facts relayed to them from Dennis Richards, the WASDA consultant hired by the Board to help in the hiring process. Richards interviewed community members, gathering information about what they expect from the next superintendent, and produced essay questions to ask potential candidates.

Board President Howard Kruschke said there are 15 applicants for the position, which closed for applications Feb. 15. The Board has not yet seen any of the applications.

The Board met in closed session on Feb. 20 to review the applications and “narrow them down to about three or four.” The finalists will then begin the interview process.

In other business:

• Michelle Lyksett, member of the MVP (Middle School Volunteer Program), outlined to the Board the group’s goals.

The group has a room at the Middle School where members meet and offer help to Middle School teachers performing duties like copying, faxing or other administrative tasks, so teachers can focus efforts on their students.

The group is seeking to recruit community members to help at the school.

“We’re trying to not just focus on parents,” Lyksett said, “but on other members of the community, even if they don’t have kids in school.”

Volunteers would also work as positive role models for the students.

Information about the group can by found on the School District’s Edline Web page, or by calling the Middle School.

• Students from Pat Abair’s tech ed class at the High School gave a presentation about a new computer aided design (CAD) software program they are learning.

SolidWorks is a 3D mechanical CAD program that runs on Microsoft Windows.

Abair began the program at the High School after hearing a presentation from a former student on the software.

• The Board continued discussion surrounding hiring a nurse’s assistant for the District.

“We want to do this right,” Woll said. “Hopefully we can get started hiring after the next Board meeting.”

• High School Principal Glenn Webb led a brief discussion of Driver’s Education fees. It was determined to leave the fees unchanged for the Driver’s Education classes this summer. It was also noted that fees may have to rise in the future due to the costs associated with the driving portion of the class.

• The High School has a new record number of honor grad students this year with 32.

“This is the first time we’ve been above 30,” Webb said.

• The Board approved the second reading of the professional development policy at the District.

• The Board approved the second reading of the special education policies and procedure manual.

Tags: education, superintendent, search, stcroixcentral