After fruitless superintendent search, Arapahoe sets sights on interim for next school year

ARAPAHOE - The Arapahoe-Holbrook Board of Education met Tuesday to discuss its superintendent search with personnel from the Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association - Cynthia Huff and Jack Moles.

Through its initial search, NRCSA had helped identify four candidates for Arapahoe’s vacancy. One accepted a job at a different district before an interview could be arranged. Two others had interviews scheduled at Arapahoe Saturday, but accepted other positions prior to interviewing.

The lone candidate to interview was Drew Billeter from Loomis. Billeter was offered a contract, but turned it down before reconsidering, then turning it down again.

Huff said the search was moving quickly, but the timing did not work right for Arapahoe.

“We thought we were moving fast but we got squeezed by a time crunch,” she said.

Moles laid out two different options to proceed. The first was to re-open the search, re-advertise and go through the process again. The second was to shift the focus to an interim superintendent, who would serve for one year, then begin a search for a permanent replacement again next year. He added that the district could also run another search for a permanent replacement, then find an interim if the permanent candidate didn’t materialize.

Moles said there have been 28 superintendent vacancies already in the 244 school districts in Nebraska. Typically, this time of year is only the midpoint of the year’s statewide vacancies. While he said he didn’t think there would be more than 5o total vacancies this year, he said it’s a tough year to find candidates because the high level of turnover and demand.

Huff said the risk in immediately running a second search for a permanent replacement is that if the district fails to find a replacement again, it’s not great “PR” for the district.

Conversely, Huff said, an interim will bring experience to the position. She added that she can zero in on the skills the district most desires in a superintendent and bring a corresponding interim candidate.

The Board, which was short absent members Dennis Roskop and Board President Rodney Whipple, asked Huff to begin the interim search in advance of a final decision by the Board when it’s all together again at its regular meeting in January.