Wick tapped for Columbia Falls superintendent job

After a brief executive session on Monday, the Columbia Falls School Board voted to offer Columbia Falls Junior High School Principal Dave Wick the superintendent’s job, pending negotiations with board chairperson Jill Rocksund.

The vote was unanimous in favor of hiring Wick.

Board members noted that Wick has a very strong record of experience in the district, as he has been junior high principal for 23 years. Trustee Michael Nicosia, a former superintendent himself, also noted Wick has experience with managing building projects. Wick managed the junior high building project 20 years ago for several months when it was built.

“I am honored and humbled to be offered the position,” Wick said after the vote.

Assuming contract negotiations are fruitful, Wick would officially start July 1, the day after current Superintendent Steve Bradshaw retires. But between now and then Wick plans on attending as many committee meetings and school construction projects updates as he can.

The district is building a new elementary school at Glacier Gateway next year and remodeling Ruder Elementary as well, after voters approved a $37 million bond for the projects a few months ago.

The board also pointed out that Wick has a strong hiring track record and he will have to make some key hires in the coming months, as the special education director and curriculum development director are expected to retire.

By hiring in-house, the district also saved at least $5,000 — which is the low-end cost of a nationwide search.

Wick’s application for the post was not unexpected. He’s been spending the last six months on sabbatical traveling the country as the president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, an advocacy group with about 16,000 members across the United States.

Wick highlighted his people skills as his main strength in an interview with the board last week and said hiring the right staff, from bus drivers to cafeteria workers to teachers was paramount.

He noted that the first person a child meets isn’t the teacher, it’s the bus driver, or another staffer outside of educators.

He said he wanted to be involved with all hires at the district.

As he’s traveled the country in his current position, he said that school leaders say “hiring is the No. 1 thing people talk about.”

Having said that, Wick said he was an advocate of listening to staff and building policy from the ground up, rather than top down, a philosophy he implemented at the junior high.