Red Lake School Board Authorizes Administration to Negotiate Contract for New Superintendent of Schools

At the Regular School Board Meeting held on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 in Ponemah, the Red Lake School Board directed Administration to negotiate a contract for the employment of a new Superintendent of Schools.

Of nine applications, five of which were interviewed by the School Board for the Red Lake Schools Superintendent position, the Board voted in favor of offering a contract to Anne M. Lundquist.

"We had an outstanding pool of finalists and it was one of the toughest decisions a Board will ever have to make," said Board Chairman Michael Barrett.

The Board interviewed five of the nine applicants last week, then met on Monday to see if they could come up with a final selection.

"It was a tough decision to come up with one that stood out over the others," Barrett said. "We had three really exceptional candidates, all of whom had different talents and quite possibly "could" have succeeded in leading the school district. Lundquist's experience in the area of school improvement was one of the things I really admired about her the most."

"I liked the fact she wasn't in a current contract and could start in two weeks," Board Member Chris Jourdain stated, "that the Board would be able to incorporate more traditional teachings, while at the same time still hit the required standards."

Both agreed her record was impressive, along with her experience in the "implementation of research-based practices and the ability to apply systems-theory approaches for continuous improvement cycles."

Former Interim Superintendent Brent Gish was hired by the Board to assist in the superintendent search process in the fall of 2013. Current Interim Superintendent Ev Arnold will retire in June of this year. He was hired in that capacity after the retirement of Superintendent Steve Wymore.

Mr. Gish did an outstanding job and put together a very diverse group of candidates. A separate Stakeholder Group, consisting of teachers, administrators, staff members, parents and tribal officials, also interviewed the five finalists. Their role was not to make a selection, but to to act as an advisory to the School Board who would make the final decision.

"We have some real high quality candidates to choose from and get to know a little better next week," said Board Chairman Michael Barrett. "This is the best list of potential superintendents I have seen so far. I feel confident we will have a new superintendent hired by June of this year, and we will move in the best direction possible for our students."

On a motion by Chris Jourdain, seconded by Robert McClain and a final vote of 5 for (Nelson, Thomas, Jourdain, McClain and Barrett) and 1 against (Sumner), Anne Lundquist would be offered a contract. The Board will be presented with the terms of the contract at their Regular March Meeting and will act upon it at that time.

If the Board approves the terms of the contract, Lundquist will be hired as the Red Lake Schools Superintendent for a term not yet determined--although a 3-year contract is usually standard in these situations. The exact start date hasn't yet been decided by the Board, but it will be no later than June of this year.