International Falls School District Superintendent Jeff Peura is expected to resign June 30, pending school board approval.
The move is prompted by Peura’s acceptance on Monday of a contract with the Lake of the Woods School District for a shared superintendent and elementary principal position, which is set to begin July 1. The Baudette district’s school board and Peura both signed the agreement at the Lake of the Woods board meeting this week.
The change will not take place until the Falls school board approves the release of Peura from his current contract. Peura is legally bound to the Falls school district until 2014. His contract was initially set to expire June 30 this year, until Peura requested a two-year extension from the board. The extension was approved in August last year.
The Falls school board received on Thursday written notification of Peura’s resignation, according to board chair Stuart Nordquist.
Peura failed to provide comment to The Journal about the issue, after several attempts to reach him over the phone and in person.
However, he spoke at the Lake of the Woods board meeting, after the board unanimously approved the contract.
“I just want to thank the board for the opportunity to come to Lake of the Woods and be a part of your school district, and help you continue to be a high-performing, well-functioning school district,” Peura said to the Lake of the Woods board Monday. “I think we have some real good opportunities on the horizon with the administrative team to keep the good things going, and I look forward to coming over here in July and getting to work with all of you.”
He added that he will “look for the support of the community and the staff as we move forward.” The superintendent search cultivated staff and community support for current Lake of the Woods elementary principal Jeff Nelson, who lost the position to Peura.
During the meeting, an audience member asked Peura whether he was still under contract with the Falls, and what would happen if the Falls board did not release him from it.
“My board right now, they understand,” Peura said. “We have the same opportunity over there with our administration to do some restructuring because we have an elementary principal that’s resigning. So they’re not opposed to it — they’re not happy, but they understand opportunity, and we’ll all move forward and do good things.”
Nordquist received a letter of resignation from Peura Thursday. On Wednesday, Nordquist told The Journal that the Falls board had been waiting for Peura’s official notification, and could not list the position in an advertisement or discuss possible changes until they received notice. The Lake of the Woods board originally offered Peura the position April 2, and in the meantime, contract negotiations between the two parties took place.
“I kind of wish he would have kept us informed rather than in the dark about what’s going on,” Nordquist said. “We had given him a two-year contract extension, and if we had not granted him the extension, we’d already know we needed someone come June 30. But the die is cast — I guess we, as a board, will have to decide where we want to go from here.”
According to Nordquist, it’s likely the board will discuss combining the next superintendent position with the position of elementary principal, with the upcoming retirement of elementary principal Jerry Hilfer. Hilfer is set to retire at the end of this school year.
“It’s good to sit down together and bounce ideas off each other about what the superintendent position will look like,” Nordquist said, adding that advertising for the position will happen as soon as possible.
Nordquist told The Journal earlier this month that Peura’s then-possible resignation would have little impact on Falls students, classrooms and education.
“It should not affect in any way, shape or form the day-to-day operations,” Nordquist said two weeks ago referring to the “very good” support staff in the central business office and in school administration, who will manage and guide the school in the time without a superintendent. “We have stability in place.”
