The International Falls School Board Thursday unanimously agreed to offer the elementary principal position to Melissa Tate.
After split votes and a stalemate lasting almost two months, the motion passed with no discussion at a special meeting which lasted less than 10 minutes.
Tate is a special education teacher at Littlefork-Big Falls School.
“I’m very pleased that the school board went forward and took care of the hire,” Superintendent Nordy Nelson told The Journal. “It’ll get the district moving forward. It’s a real positive that we have this entire thing taken care of.”
According to Nelson, the board hopes to have Tate on board within a week, upon her acceptance of the position. The process of negotiating her contract begins immediately.
She was one of 13 original candidates who applied for the principal position in May, but did not have a school administration license at that time. All applicants without licensure were eliminated before interviews began in early June.
Nelson announced at the meeting that Tate now has an administration license for principal and a director license for managing special education.
Former Falls Elementary and West End Elementary Schools principal Jerry Hilfer retired June 30.
Several interviews of final candidates for the position took place since May, and the board was split on whether to hire an in-house candidate, Kevin Grover, or a candidate from Cromwell-Wright Public Schools, Kristine Lamb. Teachers, school staff and the school board had several heated and controversial discussions on which of these two candidates would be best for the position.
With no way to break the split votes, the board agreed in July to again seek applicants for the position. The board’s principal selection committee interviewed five candidates Monday before deciding on Tate.
Other business
The board Thursday also approved the hire of Sandra Radtke as a special education teacher for the 2012-13 school year. Radtke comes to the community from Hayward, Wis., where she has been a special education teacher.
The board approved an authorization for the district to move forward with a short-term loan for cash flow, not to exceed $500,000.
Nelson explained that the Falls and most other districts in the state borrow money in the summer months, when the state holds back state aid payments to districts. The state holds roughly 30 percent of money to schools until the school year begins, causing a cash flow problem for the districts.
“That’s a lot of money,” Nelson explained. “When payments are so reduced in the summer, we run out of cash.”
The district is expected to borrow the money for about a month-and-a-half from PMA Financial. The cost in interest for this loan will be more than $1,000, Nelson said.
Nelson added the district plans to pay back the loan in September or October, when the state releases the rest of the money it held back to balance the state budget.
