Kalispell Public Schools superintendent search changes course, will seek interim

Kalispell Public Schools will seek an interim superintendent for the 2023-24 school year after opting against interviewing any of the five applicants who responded to the initial job posting.

The hiring process was fast-tracked following the resignation of outgoing Superintendent Micah Hill, who accepted a position as superintendent of Missoula County Public Schools earlier this year. Hill’s last day is June 30.

The job listing announcing the search for his successor was posted March 22 and closed April 11.

The school board expects to review candidates to interview for the interim superintendent position May 2. Once a candidate is chosen, the plan is to repost the superintendent position in November or December in hopes of drawing a larger pool of applicants.

“I think it just gives us more time and more options,” Trustee Jennifer Sevier said, a sentiment echoed by several of her colleagues.

Elizabeth Kaleva of Kaleva Law Office, which helped the school district in the candidate search process, assured trustees she would notify the applicants that they were welcome to reapply for the interim superintendent position.

The applicants included: Leslie Bonds, Robert Lewandowski, Patrick Mayer, Ryan Rettig and Dan Schmidt.

Bonds is a consultant in Odessa, Texas and a former director for the Office of Learning, Leading and Innovation for Midland Independent School District in Midland, Texas. Lewandowski is the superintendent of Colstrip Public Schools in Montana. Mayer is the superintendent of Glide School District in Glide, Oregon.

Rettig is the former principal of Sentinel High School in Missoula County Public Schools. He resigned in 2021-22 after being placed on administrative leave when the school district became aware of misdemeanor assault charges filed against him. Those charges were later dropped, according to a September 2022, article in the Missoulian.

Schmidt is the superintendent of Poplar Public Schools in Montana.

PRIOR TO the board decision, trustees went into executive session to review the applications. After about an hour, the meeting reopened and trustees debated what course to take.

A primary concern was the ability of applicants from small school districts (with total enrollments of less than 900 students) to lead Flathead County’s largest school district, which has an enrollment of 6,193 students.

“When I look at the candidate pool that we have … none of them have like an AA or even Class A experience,” Trustee Lance Isaak said.

Board Chair Sue Corrigan said it was a valid concern when compared to what the community considered important in a superintendent as compiled from the results of a community survey and focus groups. Vice Chair Diane Morton Stout agreed.

“In talking with the community we really do need to try and find someone with AA experience and I just think that would be something that we owe our community. We owe our kids. These are some great candidates but just looking at the experience they have and with our district needs I think that might be a better option,” Morton Stout said.

TRUSTEE REBECCA Linden raised another concern: How much familiarity would an out-of-state candidate have with Montana laws? Trustee Scott Warnell also noted that community members participating in the focus groups wanted a superintendent who “knows the landscape of Montana.”

However, Kalispell Public Schools has hired former superintendents from out-of-state and from smaller school districts in the past, including Mark Flatau, who came from a Washington school district with an enrollment of about 950.

Trustees did express interest in speaking further with one candidate: Leslie Bonds. Trustee Lloyd Bondy said Bonds, who had experience as a superintendent in a larger school district, would be the applicant he would like to talk to for her experience with designing curriculum. In addition to Bonds, Trustee Ursula Wilde said she would like to learn more about Dan Schmidt and Robert Lewandowski. Corrigan also mentioned Bonds.

“She did a lot with innovation and personalized learning, grant writing, teaching experience, which was something that came across in the survey that was important to us — that they have building experience. I was concerned about knowing the Montana school system and Montana laws,” Corrigan said.

Linden asked if having an interim would add more stress for the district with continued transitions in leadership, but said she didn’t want to rush the process.

“This is the most important job any board member has … hiring the superintendent,” Linden said.

Trustee Jack Fallon said the district has gone through interims before with Joe McCracken and Bud Williams, who came out of retirement to serve as co-interim superintendents in the early 2000s.

“They were a good stabilizing aspect to everything,” Fallon said.

“It was extremely unusual but they had been superintendents in the state of Montana for a long time,” he said, later adding, “It worked out well because they just kept a good even keel with everything,” he said.

Corrigan said she is confident in selecting an interim with help from the current staff.

“I know I have said it before that I have a lot of confidence in our central administrative staff right now, that if we went to an interim, we have a great staff that we would continue moving in the direction that our strategic plan has pointed us in. I am very comfortable and that is where I'm leaning is to do an interim job interview with any of these applicants at this time,” Corrigan said

Due to timing, Corrigan voiced concerns in March about how many people would apply given the number of superintendent vacancies across Montana, which were about 16 at the time and included Columbia Falls School District.

Columbia Falls School District recently selected Cory Dziowgo as its new superintendent after receiving 11 completed applications. Dziowgo (pronounced Jeffco) is currently superintendent of Platte County School District in Wheatland, Wyoming, according to the Hungry Horse News. Helena Flats School Superintendent Andy Maheras was a finalist for that position.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com..

This article was updated to reflect that the board will review candidates to interview on May 2. Interviews will not be held May 2 as previously stated in the article.