Board offers Nelson superintendent position

The board authorized its administrative salary committee to begin negotiations with Nelson on the contract specifications. Nelson was selected from three candidates. The approval came with no discussion on the item. The position is slated to begin July 1.

“I was very impressed with the school district and the community of International Falls and the surrounding area,” Nelson told The Journal after the approval. “We look forward to continuing a real team effort with the community and school district.”

Nelson has served as superintendent of various school districts. He worked as superintendent for St. James Public Schools from 2006 to 2011. Prior to that, he was superintendent of the Melrose Area Public Schools in Stearns County for nine years. He is currently self-employed as a consultant for School Financial Assistance, a role he also held during his superintendent jobs. As a consultant, he works with various school districts to set up budgets. By request, he also helps districts with contract negotiations between school districts and their employees.

Prior to his most recent superintendent positions, Nelson was superintendent for what is now Sibley East Schools, located north of Mankato. The district is a consolidation of the Gaylord and Arlington-Green Isle school districts. He was also elementary principal for this district.

Nelson told The Journal his main goal is to work with Falls administrators and staff to expand the curriculum to offer educational opportunities that “students need to function out in society.”

“At this time, it is a main emphasis to continue the offerings that I Falls has, plus looking at what else we can do to make  options available for students to meet their needs for after graduation, which is very important,” Nelson said. He  added that it’s also important to keep extracurricular activities in place, including fine arts and sports. “It’s a real growth experience when they can participate in school activities.”

Elementary principal

After 3-3 split votes on three candidate nominations for the elementary principal position, the board unanimously decided to conduct a second round of interviews with the candidates nominated at Monday’s meeting.

Several discussions took place about the three candidates — Kevin Grover, Andy Fougner and Kristine Lamb — nominated at the meeting. They will be interviewed again Friday. Interviews are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the Falls High School library. The interviews are open to the public and to  Falls school board members who are not on the interview committee.

Grover is expected to be interviewed at 1 p.m., Fougner at 1:45 p.m. and Lamb at 2:30 p.m.

With current elementary principal Jerry Hilfer set to retire June 30, the interview committee recommended to the board the selection of Kristine Lamb for the position. The committee initially interviewed the candidates June 4. Lamb is a K-12 music teacher at Cromwell-Write Public Schools in Carlton County.

The elementary principal selection committee is made up of Stuart Nordquist, school board chair; Garner Wiley, parent; Tim Everson, Falls High School principal; Ardel Hendrickson, district testing coordinator and special education teacher; and Paul Hjelle, elementary teacher.

Nordquist and board members Willie Kostiuk and Dena Wenberg voted in support of the committee’s recommendation of Lamb, but the motion failed.

Board members Michelle Hebner, Mark Lassila and Darrell Wagner voted for the selection of Kevin Grover and Andy Fougner. Both motions to nominate the two respectively failed with a split 3-3 vote.

Grover serves as the Falls dean of students and math teacher. He served as the district’s interim superintendent and assistant superintendent in the past.

Fougner is the Falls Response to Intervention coordinator and special education teacher. He previously worked at Red Lake County Central Schools in Oklee as a teacher, administrative assistant and activities director.

Board member Darrell Wagner told the board he sat in on the interviews.

“I don’t think (Lamb) is the best candidate for the job,” he said.

Hebner added, “I feel the same way; I don’t think she was as qualified as the other candidates that are out there.”

Lassila said he agrees with Wagner and Hebner in voting against the selection of Lamb, saying, “I think there is a better choice out there.”

Kostiuk said that although he did not sit in on the interviews, “I’m just going by the recommendation of the committee.”

Nordquist explained at the meeting the reasoning behind using a candidate selection committee.

“One of the reasons we went to committees is to move away from behind closed-doors politics,” he said. “I think the committee worked on it hard, and Kristine Lamb ended up being the consensus choice. That doesn’t mean unanimous choice, it means consensus choice as the No. 1 candidate.”

Board members who voted against selecting Lamb spoke in favor of the two district employees Grover and Fougner.

Wagner said Grover “had the best interview and is probably the best qualified” and that hiring him “should be a no-brain decision.”

“(Grover) has served the district in every form we’ve asked him to; everything we’ve asked him to do he’s done enthusiastically and we know what we’re getting with Kevin,” Wagner said. “We don’t have to take the chance of hiring someone from out of town that we don’t know too much about.”

Hebner said both Grover and Fougner are “highly qualified for the principal position.”

“Both Kevin and Andy have their strengths; they’ve shown what they can do for this community and this district,” Lassila said. “But I think (Grover) is the stronger candidate.”

Wagner and Hebner spoke about Fougner’s contributions to the district with the Response to Intervention program and working to improve the district’s status with Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind federal law. The district has not met the federal standards over the past few years.

“I think (Fougner) has helped build education at the elementary district; I think we have had issues for many years, and he has helped alleviate that,” Hebner said. “I think he’s a excellent candidate. He knows the school.”

The board unanimously voted to conduct a second round of interviews with the three final candidates. Nordquist added that second interviews are “not unheard of with a leadership position.”

Peura said the second round of interviews may be the solution to the split votes of the board.

“Maybe one (candidate) will rise to the top, clear-cut, that you can support,” Peura said.

Hebner made a motion to include the entire board in the interviews to select a final candidate, but the board followed Peura’s recommendation to use the same committee to “keep the process consistent.”