Caledonia Argus

Search for school superintendent gears up

Posted: 2/3/04

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

The Caledonia School Board is expected to start interviewing superintendent candidates this week.

Board members looked at applications at their January 26 meeting in the elementary school cafeteria.

Each board member ranked his and her top five choices. They added them up to come up with their collective top five. Three are from Minnesota, one from South Dakota, and one from Wisconsin.

All the candidates had to have superintendent experience and right licensure, current superintendent Jim Tool said February 2.

After the preliminary interviews are done by the board this Thursday and Friday, board members will check with people from the applicantsí local communities, Tool said.

ìI assume it will get down to a final three and theyíll decide who theyíre going to offer it to at that point,î he said.

Tool is an interim superintendent whose contract expires at the end of June. He believes the board will make a decision by the end of February.

Staff cuts may come

Also at last weekís meeting, the board passed a resolution to reduce staff. Staff reductions take a series of steps, Tool told the board, and there will be more actions every month until the end of May when cuts have to be finalized.

Reducing staff could take place due to declining enrollment. No positions were discussed for possible reduction.

Other business

ï Board member Chuck Schulte handed out material about wind energy. He wants the board to look into the feasibility of this, because he feels the district is ideally suited for it.

Not only is the school site windy, but the district is powered mostly by electricity for its ground source heat pumps, Schulte said.

He recommended a permanent wind energy committee. Dave Kliniski and Suzanne Roesler, who are on the building committee, will look at the idea and determine the structure of wind energy committee.

ï Elementary school principal Connie Hesse reminded the board of an open house on February 19, where they can see some "awesome" science fair projects.

She also explained a Math Blaster program that rewards students who practice math at home. She thinks it will improve math scores.

Hesse said that Sharon Tweeten is spending all 6/10 of her Title One time at St. Mary's and St. John's Elementary School. This is the first year that the two parochial schools have requested a Title One teacher. Hesse said Caledonia Elementary School has maintained its tutoring slots, but the number of students has increased.

ìThere were a lot of questions and there were concerns but they have all worked out,î Hesse said.

Title One is a federally funded program that provides students with extra help in reading and math.

ï Cory Klabunde told the board that he is still researching a web-based camera system for the school district. He is looking at a system that can add the elementary school. It could be viewed from home or the police department, he said.

Klabunde is also setting up on-line registration for next year. He hopes it will be ready by the end of February.

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