by David Hill
Editor
Wednesday afternoon, the Thief River Falls School Board announced that it had suspended its search for a superintendent. The board has decided to hire an interim superintendent, and then restart its superintendent search late this year.
At a meeting Monday, May 16, the Board of Education discussed this potential outcome, but decided to go ahead with interviews of three candidates on Wednesday.
The Board of Education is being assisted in its search for a superintendent by the Minnesota School Boards Association. Through its meetings with a representative of the MSBA, the local Board of Education had already settled on a list of questions, guidelines, and timeline.
On Monday, a representative of the MSBA said four individuals had applied for the superintendent post in Thief River Falls. After thoroughly reviewing the applications, an MSBA team recommended three applicants for the job.
Members of the Board of Education at that meeting on Monday expressed concerns about the small pool of applicants for a very important job in the community.
The MSBA representative said that if the Board chose to suspend the process and reopen its search later when the pool of applicants is typically larger, there wouldn’t be any additional cost to the District.
But, members of the Board of Education also wondered whether they would be doing themselves, the candidates, and the community a disservice by not hearing from these qualified candidates.
In the end, the Board of Education decided to go ahead with the first interviews. The three finalists were Jennifer Leadbetter, David Pace, and Craig Peterson.
On Wednesday, the Board of Education and a group of eight individuals, who represented staff, business/community members, and administrators, participated in the interview process. Each candidate was given an hour, during which they answered several questions from the Board of Education while group members took notes. Following the interviews, the Board of Education read the feedback from the group of eight and discussed the interviews and candidates.
Without comment, the Board decided Wednesday afternoon to hire an interim superintendent and restart its superintendent search later this year.