The International Falls School Board Monday voted to again seek applicants for the elementary principal position opening.
A repeat split vote of 3-3 earlier in the meeting halted the hire of one of two final candidates for the position. That was the fourth split vote in more than one month on the motions to hire Kevin Grover or Kristine Lamb for the elementary principal position for the 2012-13 school year.
Grover is the Falls dean of students and Lamb is a K-12 music teacher at Cromwell-Wright Public Schools in Carlton County. The board has been split on whether to hire an in-house candidate or to accept the recommendation of the board’s interview committee of Lamb.
An additional in-house final candidate, Falls special education teacher and Response to Intervention Coordinator Andy Fougner withdrew his application for the position last week and gave notice of his intent to resign from the district.
The motion to re-post the position passed on a 4-2 vote. Board members Michelle Hebner, Mark Lassila, Darrell Wagner and Dena Wenberg voted in favor of re-posting while board member Will Kostiuk and board Chairman Stuart Nordquist voted against the motion.
The motion seeks new applicants and encourages candidates who had already applied to consider reapplying. Superintendent Nordy Nelson requested the board consider re-posting to remedy the split votes that have continued since early June. The vacancy was created June 30 when Jerry Hilfer retired.
Nordquist made a motion to combine the superintendent position with the elementary principal position for one year. That would save the district about $110,500 in salary paid to pay an elementary principal, he said. The motion did not pass, but Nelson said he is willing to fill in until a full-time principal is hired.
“I don’t think we’re a small enough district (to combine the positions),” Wagner said. “With all the input we’ve gotten in the last two meetings, I think we need a full-time principal.”
Nelson began working for the district July 1. He offered at several previous meetings to fill-in as elementary principal without extra compensation until one is found.
“Yes, it can work, but the district needs to move forward here (in hiring a full-time elementary principal),” Nelson said to the board. “We get ourselves into a situation that delays the moving forward — I recommend that the board take the steps to re-post.”
Pool update
In his administrative update to the board, Nelson informed members that the Falls High School swimming pool closed last week after the heaving tile at the bottom slightly scraped or cut a swimmer’s foot.
The pool reopened earlier that week after a project of several months to deepen the pool took place. Hours after its reopening, swimmers noticed the tile at the bottom breaking up and buckling.
Nelson said tile samples and adhesive from the pool have been submitted to the project management firm, TSP. Representatives from the company have sent the tiles to a lab to investigate the reason for the broken tiles.
The firm is expected to provide the result in two weeks and Nelson said he will ask them to expedite the lab investigation.
Personnel business
In personnel business, Nelson shared with a proposition for a Community Education position for the 2012-13 school year. Former director of community education Rachel Amdahl recently resigned to take the Falls High School art teacher position. Amdahl offered to pitch in with part-time help in directing Community Ed and proposed that the district also hire a second person as the enrichment coordinator.
The board is expected to act on the proposal in August.
Several resignations were approved at the meeting: Brenda LeDuc as homeless liaison; Andy Fougner as an elementary teacher; Elizabeth Strandberg, vocal music instructor; Amdahl as Community Education director; and John Sirotiak as bus driver.
The board approved extended work time for the 2012-13 school year of 20 days for the guidance counseling position; six days for the high school dean of students position; and six days for the librarian position.
The board formed two new committees at the request of the superintendent. The labor management committee will include Wagner and Lassila. The new finance committee will include Kostiuk, Nordquist and Wenberg. Hebner is set to serve as an alternate member for each committee.
Other items
During an open forum, physical education teacher Josh Koenig urged the board to address maintenance issues on the Falls High School baseball field, Scheela Field.
“There’s basic maintenance that needs to be done at that field, especially because of the fact that it’s used heavily by many communities,” Koenig said, adding that when players from other communities come to the field for games, “I was embarrassed — almost appalled — about the way the field looked.”
In finance issues, Nordquist asked that Nelson investigate an item on the district’s accounts payable list that Nordquist said he cannot find evidence of board authorization. The item is a check in the amount of $41,744 to Bobcat of Bemidji for the purchase of a sweeper and other maintenance materials for the elementary schools.
