School board votes to search for interim superintendent

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City School District Board of Directors voted at a special meeting Monday evening to direct its search firm to seek an interim superintendent for the upcoming school year.

The district will reopen the search for a full-time, permanent superintendent in the fall.

Grundmeyer Leader Services, based in Ankeny, is the company hired by the district to help in the Charles City superintendent search. The school district is looking to replace Mike Fisher, who recently resigned after four years in Charles City in order to take the position of superintendent in his home town of Oskaloosa. His employment in Charles City will officially end on June 30.

The initial search process came to a halt a week ago, when the district learned that three out of four finalists had accepted other jobs. The board needed to decide Monday whether to start from scratch and reopen the search or find an interim superintendent to fill in.

Roger Wilcox of Grundmeyer told the board that he’d received no new candidates since applications were closed. The district had previously received about 10 applications, and had narrowed that down to the four finalists.

“You could reopen and try again, but then you lose the potential of interim candidates who get placed elsewhere,” Wilcox said.  “We feel it would be better to be the first kid on the block in December for the following year, and go with an interim this time.”

Wilcox said that he couldn’t guarantee that there would be new candidates applying who didn’t apply previously if they tried again now.

“Opening it back up now raises a red flag for an interested candidate,” he said. “It would make it seem as though there are issues at Charles City.”

Although he left the final decision up to the board, he suggested that hiring an interim was the better option.

“I don’t see issues here. I see people who want to continue to move this school district forward,” Wilcox said. “That may mean hiring an interim superintendent for a year, or for six months, and then we’ll get the best of the best after that time.”

Grundmeyer won’t charge additional fees if the district hires an interim superintendent, and would continue to lead the search once the district hires an interim.

Director Kathryn Fox made the motion to direct Grundmeyer Leader Services to seek applicants for an interim superintendent. Director Janeice Bergland seconded, and the motion passed 5-0.

“We feel good about going with an interim,” said Charles City School Board President Pat Rottinghaus. “At this point, it seems like the best option to me.”

After the vote, the board went into closed session to discuss possible applicants. Rottinghaus said they had already narrowed down a list of possible candidates. She said the position would be full time, and salary and benefits “would depend on the candidate.”

She also said a press release would go out this week with more information, possibly as early as today (Tuesday).

Of the candidates who had applied for the position, the single finalist who was left has said he would be interested in an interim or permanent position. That person, Joseph Brown, had been superintendent at Fairmont, Minnesota, but resigned that position to take a one-year interim position this current school year at the Clear Creek Amana School District, because that is an area he represented when he was an Iowa state senator from 1979 to 1986.