MinonkTalkNews

Fieldcrest Superintendent Resigns, Board Discusses Replacement

Thursday, June 23, 2022

The Fieldcrest Board of Education held a special meeting Wednesday night to discuss plans for hiring an interim superintendent after receiving notice that Fieldcrest Superintendent Dr. Kari Rockwell announced her resignation last week.

Dr. Rockwell is leaving the education field and joining a nonprofit organization. In an interview after the meeting Dr. Rockwell said she was not actively looking for another position but an opportunity came up that she felt she had to take. Dr. Rockwell said she loved Fieldcrest and will miss it greatly. Dr. Rockwell will be here to help train the interim superintendent(s) until she officially leaves on July 29.

It was determined that there is no one currently in the Fieldcrest School District who is eligible to step in as interim superintendent. The board discussed whether one or two interim superintendents will be needed. Start and ending dates were also discussed.

A survey has been conducted to determine the important qualities in hiring an interim and permanent superintendent. The main qualities were:

Student achievement
Fiscal responsibility
Building community spirit
Equity
Strategic planning

Also mentioned was that the daily rate for an interim superintendent was $600 to $800 a day. However, benefits are a non-issue.

After an interim(s) superintendent is hired, the board will hire a search firm to select a permanent superintendent.

At the end of the meeting the board went into closed session to discuss the interim candidates and to choose 3 to 5 candidates for interviews.

The board plans to take action at the next board meeting (June 29) on hiring an interim superintendent and will take action on hiring a search firm at either the June 29 meeting or the July 27 meeting.

In other business, Minonk native Marvin Cremer gave a donation to the school district at the start of the meeting.

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Fieldcrest Superintendent Resigns, Board Discusses Replacement