Incoming International Falls Public Schools superintendent Nordy Nelson is expected to present options to the school board on how to fill the elementary principal position at a special work session Thursday.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at the Falls High School library. The board is expected to explore options, but take no formal action. An agenda is considered tentative until the government body begins the meeting and makes additions or deletions to the proposed agenda.
Falls Elementary and West End Elementary Schools principal Jerry Hilfer is set to retire Saturday.
Repeat split votes of 3-3 at this month’s special and regular school board meetings for the final three candidates have become a hurdle in hiring a new elementary principal.
“The board will discuss where the situation is at, and what they can do to break the deadlock,” said Sue Karsnia, Falls district administrative assistant.
Board members are divided on the decision to hire one of the local Falls district employees Kevin Grover and Andy Fougner, and the candidate recommended by the board’s elementary principal selection committee, Kristine Lamb.
Lamb is a K- 12 music teacher at Cromwell- Wright Public Schools in Carlton County. Grover is the Falls dean of students and math teacher, and Fougner is the Falls response to intervention coordinator and special education teacher.
The split lies between board Chairman Stuart Nordquist and board members Will Kostiuk and Dena Wenberg, who voted for Lamb; and board members Michelle Hebner, Mark Lassila and Darrell Wagner voted for each nomination of Grover and Fougner.
Nelson, whose contract begins with the district Sunday, told The Journal his presentation will not focus on the candidates, but rather options. He said he will “present a number of ideas to the school board for the possible arrangements of the coverage of the elementary principal position.”
The ideas he will present are guidelines and options supported by state legislation and the Minnesota Department of Education on how to proceed in such a situation, he said. He added that these options are used by districts in similar situations throughout the state.
“Just to look at something different really provides an opportunity to discuss all possibilities and decide whether (the board) wants to continue the position they’ve had for years, or do something else,” Nelson said. “I’m not sure what the board would be comfortable with, what they’d like to see, or where they’ll want to go from here. We just have a number of ideas that hopefully will be beneficial.”
He said there is a “real possibility” that the board will consider the option of making some adjustments to the position, “if the board wishes.”
“When you have a transition like this, it’s the time to make those adjustments,” he said.
Not being familiar with the district yet, Nelson said, he wants to bring all ideas to the table.
“Everything is a possibility until we make a decision,” he said. “I’m not going to be presenting my priorities in terms of, ‘This is the approach I favor the most’...We’ll be working for the board to make a decision at their regular meeting in July.”
