On Tuesday, June 20 the Devils Lake School Board held a special meeting at 5 p.m. to address personnel issues.
Superintendent Matt Bakke presented a number of personnel appointments to the board for their approval including one resignation, all were approved.
Then he submitted his own resignation. Bakke sited his reasons for leaving as family, medical, and personal. Bakke reminded the board that he had made that clear – putting his family first – during his interview before they hired him and has continued to emphasize that to staff “now it’s time to practice what I preach.” When elaborating on his medical reasons, Bakke stated that being an hour and a half away from his doctors is not an ideal situation for him.
When board member Sheri Olson reminded Bakke that he is still under contract with the Devils Lake School District. He assured the board that he would not leave the district high and dry.
Bakke presented a number of options for the board to consider.
Some of the options that were discussed were hiring locally qualified, Deb Follman, for the interim. She has graciously agreed to step in if needed. Several board members expressed concern with this option explaining that when Bakke was out on medical leave last year and Ryan Hanson stepped in, some of his duties had been delegated out to others and the individuals that took on the extra load had to share their duties and it just created a “snowball effect.” The concern was “what would happen to Sweetwater?” It was the consensus of the board that this might not be the ideal solution.
The second option the board tossed around was to hire an outside applicant on the interim and do a search for a permanent replacement. The board was also in agreement that this would not be the best choice, either. The replacement would only be temporary and the search for a replacement would need to continue. Board member LeeAnn Johnston said, “We don’t want to have to do this again.”
Board President Cory Meyer suggest posting the position for a couple weeks to see what happens with applicants. Johnston pointed out that any qualified candidates would still be under their own contracts and “we don’t want to hire the first resume that comes in.”
Bakke has already taken the position of Assistant Superintendent in the Grand Forks School District. There was a suggestion that Bakke could “share his time between the two districts” in the meantime.
Some of the questions posed by this scenario included how much time would be spent between here and Grand Forks? How long would this arrangement remain?
Steve Halldorson, longest serving member of the school board, stated that he had made many, many phone calls to other districts for insight in this situation and “I got nothing. This is unprecedent.”
Johnston shared that she had recently had a lengthy telephone call with Terry Brenner, Superintendent of the Grand Forks District. Brenner is a native of Devils Lake and before leaving the area had served as an elementary principal and teacher and also worked for a co-op in Deaf Ed.
Johnston shared that Brenner was willing to work with the Devils Lake District allowing him to “share his duties.” When she inquired about a time frame for this agreement, explicitly asking if it would be possible to extend into Christmastime she reported that he said that would be tough.
Member Jason Hodous used the phrase, “Do it right.” Johnston added, “We take care of us.”
Then the board dismissed the public and went into executive session to further discuss what they wanted to do with the request before them.
In that session it was decided to table Bakke’s resignation and to advertise for the superintendent position for at least two weeks to see what kind of response they get and to go forward from there.
The School Board has some tough decisions to make and all the members agreed to strive to do what is best for the Devils Lake district.
