BLUE EARTH — The Blue Earth Area School Board voted Monday to approve four finalists for the position of superintendent.

They are:

o Dale Hogie, superintendent at Lake Park-Audubon in Lake Park.

o Mandy Fletcher, superintendent/principal at Granada-Huntley-East Chain.

o Barry Schmidt, superintendent at West Central Area School in Barrett.

o David Pace, superintendent at Greenway High School in Coleraine.

All four will be interviewed Wednesday by the school board and a community committee.

The board is expected to narrow the four candidates down to two at the end of those interviews. The two will then be interviewed by just the board, one candidate March 20 and one March 21.

The board may make a decision about which candidate to hire at a special meeting on the evening of March 21.

There were 17 applicants for the position.

Turning to another matter, the board has decided to have students make up snow days by adding 10 minutes to the start of school and 10 minutes to the end of each school day, beginning Monday. The district also will add staff development days to the end of the school year. The decision must be approved by the Blue Earth Area teacher’s association. The board also approved an alternate plan if the teachers object.

In other business, the board:

o Accepted bids for new boilers and for parking lot repaving at the high school.

o Approved a letter of support for the new Winnebago School Pilot Program in the former Winnebago school building.

o Approved an updated revised budget for the current 2019 fiscal year. It also approved a 2019-2020 proposed school calendar.

o Approved the retirement of Title I teacher Pam Armon, but denied a third year of leave for Hannah Olson.

o Heard a report from music teacher Peter Koenig concerning all of the music programs. He reported March is “Music in our Schools” month and the department has many concerts and activities planned.