Charles City Narrows Superintendent Finalist Field, Not Completely by Choice

The number of finalists for the next superintendent of the Charles City School District has been narrowed to two. More accurately, the pool has dwindled to two.

Current Superintendent Mike Fisher is resigning effective June 30th to become the new superintendent in his hometown of Oskaloosa. The School Board was slated to begin interviews with four candidates this Tuesday afternoon, but during a special meeting Sunday evening, Roger Wilcox with Grundmeyer Leader Services, the firm leading the search for Fisher’s replacement, informed the school board that their candidate list has been trimmed to two.

Wilcox says one finalist has accepted an educational position in Nebraska, while a second has taken him or herself out of consideration for the post in Charles City because they have an interview for a superintendent position in a different school district, also on Tuesday. Wilcox adds that an alternate candidate is also out of the running because he or she is also interviewing elsewhere. Furthermore, one of the two remaining candidates is also interviewing for another district’s superintendent’s position Monday night and could be out of consideration in Charles City, if he or she gets that job. 

Wilcox told the board their options are to proceed with the interviews as scheduled for Tuesday, they could extend the application period, or they could go with an interim superintendent and relaunch their search for a permanent replacement next fall.

Board member Janiece Bergland said they can’t “kick the can down the road” and the board voted to conduct the Tuesday interview session as planned and decide from there what the district does next. The school board is scheduled to meet in special session Tuesday starting at 2:30 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church to interview the one or two finalists available.