RCAS school board executive committee discusses superintendent selection

The Rogers City Area Schools Board of Education executive committee met on Tuesday to establish the selection criteria for a new superintendent. Committee members consisting of board president Mike Marx, vice president Jo Bush-Glenn, and treasurer/secretary Richard Hanson met with interim superintendent Paul Mancine, business manager Don Schaedig, K-12 principal Deb Jones and assistant principal Missy Wozniak. Also attending the meeting were staff members Pat Lamb, Karl Grambau, Sara Brege, Mary Fairbanks, and Kathy Viegelahn.

THE OPENING discussion revolved around business manager Don Schaedig and his previously announced intention to resign after it became apparent to him that there was a perception by some in the community that his position was no longer necessary. Mancine asked whether the search effort was going to focus on business credentials or curriculum expertise. ?The dilemma is whether we are going to choose someone who fits the job, or select the person and then shape the job to fit their capabilities,? he said. The general consensus around the table was to define the job and see that the person selected fits the job description.

ANOTHER SUBJECT of discussion was about choosing a ?greenie? with less experience but lower cost or to choose someone with lots of experience but higher cost. Hanson said to Schaedig, ?If we had a five-year commitment from you we could go back to Posen and talk about sharing superintendent functions again.? Schaedig responded with a question, ?Do you think you can make it work with Posen??

Marx also addressed Schaedig, ?It was easy enough to give you responsibilities over the years but now we have a problem trying to take it back to delegate some responsibilities to other staff so we can downsize some of the central office functions.? Mancine asked the question directly to Schaedig, ?Would you like to work part-time for a couple years?? Schaedig said that would be fine with him if there was a smooth transition allowing many of the administrative functions he performs to be absorbed into other jobs. ?That would be interesting to me but I can?t be doing these other activities,? he said. With a commitment from Schaedig to continue to lend support to the business functions of the office, the committee was prepared to recommend a two-step process.

THE FIRST STEP is to start the search for RCAS superin

tendent as soon as possible. The second step is to determine what else Schaedig is responsible for in the school and take over these duties so he can concentrate on the business aspects. Whereas there had been a lot of effort put into determining the feasibility of a shared superintendent in the spring, the matter did not appear to fly with the committee on Tuesday. Marx noted that the decision by Posen superintendent Dennis Stratton to take a position with Mesick Consolidated Schools presented an opportunity for Rogers City and Posen school official to reconsider the idea, if only to explore every option available.

Marx said he would be discussing the matter with his counterpart on the Posen school board, Ken Wozniak, in the near future and would report at the next regular meeting of the board, August 8.

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