The Carroll Community School District (CCSD) has been without a superintendent for nearly two weeks, since the resignation of Dr. Kevin Lein earlier this month. In Iowa, school districts are required to have a licensed superintendent, and on Monday night, the board began the process of finding a temporary replacement. Heartland AEA Chief Administrator, Dr. John Sheldahl, is serving in that role until an interim is selected. The firm that managed the district’s last superintendent search, Grundmeyer Leader Services, will oversee the process again. According to Director of Business Affairs, Gary Bengtson, these services are at no additional charge because their contract came with a one year guarantee on the chosen applicant. However, he says they do not yet know what a temporary solution will cost.
With input from the district’s principals, the board identified desired qualities in their interim superintendent. Working in the district at least a few days a week and availability to staff were the top concerns from the administrators. Trent Grundmeyer, the search firm’s founder, attended the meeting to gauge how quickly the board wanted an interim in place. He says he certainly did not expect to be presenting to them so soon after Lein’s hiring last March.
He and his team have already started to identify candidates interested in filling the interim role. Grundmeyer indicated a selection could be made in as little as a few weeks.
The board also worked out a tentative hiring timeline for a permanent replacement. Current plans are for the application period to close on March 17, with screening interviews to take place in early April. Formal interviews are set for April 15, and the board has scheduled a meeting for later that day to potentially offer the job to one of the finalists. These dates are subject to change.
