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Superintendent's position spurs inquiries
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By CHUCK CLEMENT, Staff Reporter
| 12/31/2009 |
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The president of the Madison School Board has reported that several persons have made phone inquiries and sent in employment applications regarding the opening of the superintendent's position in the Madison Central School District.
Board president Jay Niedert said that he and the other school board members will review the applications with the start of the new year and organize the interview and hiring process. According to Niedert, the school board may even call for a special meeting before Jan. 11, the date of its next regular meeting, if any candidates want to hold an interview in early January.
According to Niedert, the board members want to expedite the hiring process but they also don't want to rush into hiring a new superintendent.
"We're in the process of lining up a schedule right now and seeing who's going to be on the list of candidates," Niedert said.
Vince Schaefer, superintendent for the Madison Central School District for the last 2 1/2 years, gave the school district about 2 1/2 weeks notice that Dec. 31 (today) would serve as his last work day. He made the announcement during the board's Dec. 14 meeting -- a move that caught board members by surprise.
Schaefer gave no specific reason for the announcement, but he said that his decision was not quickly made.
Niedert said the board members would review the district's options during the time before their January meeting and discuss then the most appropriate route to take in filling Schaefer's position. Niedert added that they could discuss asking someone to serve as the school district's acting chief administrator until a replacement is hired.
Schaefer was unavailable by phone to comment on Thursday morning (today) about speculation that he would apply for state retirement benefits and then seek re-employment with the Madison school district.
Niedert said Schaefer had not submitted an application in order to take that re-employment route. Niedert added that if Schaefer did submit an application, he would have to go through the same hiring process as any other applicant.
"He would need to go through the same interview process as everyone else and he'd be considered like everyone else," Niedert said.
The Madison School Board offered Schaefer a two-year contract in March 2007 to serve as superintendent of the Madison public schools. When the school board offered the contract to Schaefer, he was employed as the superintendent for the Beresford School District.
Kelly Johnson, school board president at the time of Schaefer's hiring, said the board members selected Schaefer due to his maturity and years of experience working as a superintendent. Before coming to Madison, Schaefer had served as a school superintendent for a total of 15 years with the last two years in Beresford. Previous to his job in Beresford, he was the superintendent in Luverne, Minn., from 1999 to 2005.
Schaefer was already familiar with Madison, having attended Dakota State University during the late 1960s. He graduated from DSU in 1969, majoring in social studies and health and physical education.
Schaefer earned his postgraduate degrees in education from the University of South Dakota and South Dakota State University. His career as an educator included employment at the school district in Viborg where he worked as a teacher, guidance counselor, principal and superintendent.
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