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MCW keeps superintendent

SHERBURN — In a series of meetings in the first week of March, the Martin County West School Board worked through the eight applicants they received for the position of Superintendent/Principal which they posted in February. The applicant pool dwindled down to six and the South Central Service Search Program under Ed Waltman and Harold Remy submitted four candidates on March first. Out of the 18 districts looking for superintendents, their firm was helping five.

The firm gave the board a short synopsis, and the board approved the four candidates submitted by the firm. The names were: John Willey, superintendent at Ellsworth; Jacob Tietje, principal at Fairmont; Shelly Bauer, principal at Madelia; and Taylor Topinka, principal at Granada Huntley East Chain. The board and the staff/community committee interviewed the final three candidates on March third and the last two candidates on March eighth.

At the March 15 school board meeting, the search firm reported that the chosen candidate declined the contract negotiations and gave some options for the district. The options included: repost the position now, re-interview the other candidates, try to get a part-time superintendent from retired superintendents, offer Chad Brusky the position for school year 2021-2022 as interim superintendent. Chad Brusky has been filling the position as interim superintendent for about half of the 2020-2021 school year.

The board discussed the options and decided that reposting the position and doing a quick search now was not a good option, no retired superintendent was interested in doing part-time work for the district, and re-interviewing wouldn’t change the situation. COVID issues were a big part of the low candidate pool. The candidate pool may be lower next year too. The salary offered is not as large as the larger districts closer to Mankato. The board is happy with the work Brusky has been doing and he offered to stay on as superintendent to give the district some stability and time to look further for a superintendent if they want. Mr. Brusky said he, “sees himself as a facilitator of the board” and that the board has a clear understanding of what the Martin County West school district is all about and its vision about where it is going. The board thanked Mr. Brusky for offering to stay and approved offering the interim superintendent position to him for the 2021-2022 school year. He thanked them for having trust in him and pledged to do the best he could for the students and the district in the coming year.

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