School Board to consider acting interim superintendent

Shakopee Valley News

The Shakopee School Board will be holding a special meeting Friday to discuss appointing an acting interim superintendent.

Former Superintendent Rod Thompson recently resigned amid a police investigation into his personal use of a district credit card, which was disclosed in a series of stories by the Shakopee Valley News.

The board will hold the meeting at 5 p.m. Friday to discuss appointing Kevin Bjerken to the acting interim role. He is principal of the Pearson Sixth Grade Center, and will serve in both roles until an interim superintendent is found.

Bjerken has worked in education for 25 years, both in teaching and administrative roles.

The board delegated the interim superintendent search to the personnel committee after its retreat on Monday.

School Board Chairman Scott Swanson said Monday there are fewer formal steps required to hire an interim superintendent.

“We have to give this the right amount of time,” Swanson said Monday.

The board decided Monday to hire an interim superintendent candidate for one to two years before hiring a permanent superintendent. They said the length of the contract and search would depend on the candidates.

“This is not the time of year (for superintendents to be job searching) — which does not mean that there aren’t qualified candidates out there — but I personally prefer that we have time to do this well and have a thoughtful process,” Swanson said. “I think the time and energy we put in it will reflect in the candidates which apply.”

Board members talked about the need for the district’s next leader to have integrity, be transparent and work on restoring trust in the district.

“I would like our next superintendent, both our interim and whatever happens long-term, to instill a culture of trust from the top down,” board member Shawn Hallett said. “That has to come from us too.”

They would also like the person to have knowledge of the academy school model, have a good financial background and have gone through some turmoil and come out the other side.

“I am personally not interested in someone who just wants to keep a chair warm for a year or the lights on,” Swanson said.

Though one year is a typical contract time for an interim position, two years would allow the search to continue while the district undergoes major changes and give newly elected school board members input in the choice, board member Tony Pass said.

“We won’t know if the superintendent is good with the district if we don’t give them some time,” Pass said.

The interim superintendent could also be considered for the permanent position.

“I think the desired scenario is someone who can come in and bridge significant events in this district rather than switching horses mid-stream,” Bowerman said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that Bjerken would be the interim superintendent. He will not. The School Board will discuss Bjerken serving as the acting interim superintendent until the interim superintendent is found. The story also said that the personnel committee meeting times were not made public. Meeting times are posted in the Shakopee District Office. We regret the errors.