GFW School Board to interview three

by Doug Hanson
There were 10 candidates asking about the opening for the GFW Superintendent position. This is a one-year interim position that will start on August 1st.
The Board Directors had last Thursday and Friday to stop at the District Office in Gibbon to review all the applications. On Monday, Jeff Bertrang and Harold Remme of South Central Services Cooperative discussed the information they had used to recommend three candidates. The online survey had 129 response. Bertrang stated that of the qualifications that were highlighted in the survey, they concentrated on applicants that had a strong financial background, prior superintendent experience in Minnesota and had worked on a building project.
The Board reviewed the recommendations of candidates A, B and C without knowing for sure the names.
After a short discussion Directors Dan Merkel, Russel Miller, George Grosam and Mark Turtle approved the recommended candidates. Directors Ken Briese and Emilee Stehr were unable to attend this meeting.
The three candidates were Pat Devine, recently with the Waconia School District; Frank Norton, recently with Red Wing Schools; and Kelly Smith, who has been working with Baker Tilly Municipal Advisory Group and prior to that was superintendent at the Belle Plaine School District as well as three other districts.
Interviews will be on Thursday and will include each candidate having an hour session with the Board, plus an hour session with a group of teachers, parents and principals. Both interview groups will have assigned questions, so the same questions are asked of each candidate. Everyone involved in the interviews will fill out a form with the positives and concerns listed, plus ranking the candidates.

There will also be a 90 minute tour of the buildings for each candidate led by the Director of Buildings Brain Weir.
After this process, the Board will hold a special meeting to review each Directors’ interview forms as well as the forms of the advisor group. They will then make a decision on which candidate to offer the position to.
Assuming the candidate accepts, the position will be finalized at a special meeting on July 22.