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Saturday, May 25, 2013
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Dean/A.D. quits job after 13 days
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · August 03, 2012
West Branch Community Schools will look for a new dean of students after the first hire asked to end her contract after 13 days on the job.
Superintendent Kevin Hatfield said Kim Ray asked to be let out of her contract “due to changes in her family situation,” he said Friday.
“Legally, the board could enforce the contract,” he said. “But we want to make the right decision for the kids and school.”
Ray, when taking the job of dean/activities director, told the West Branch Times that she would be moving to West Branch while her husband stayed at his job in Edwardsville, Ill., until his contract ran out. The two have four children and Ray had brought the two youngest, both girls, to West Branch.
A message left Tuesday at Ray’s home was not returned before deadline.
Hatfield said he was not happy Ray wanted to leave because of all the effort that went into the hiring process. Three committees — made up of 16 to 17 administrators, teachers and community members — interviewed the top three candidates and Hatfield interviewed her twice on the phone and once traveled to Peoria to meet her again.
He said Ray met with him about 7 p.m. July 18 to discuss ending her contract.
“The good side is that we had a couple of really strong candidates,” the superintendent said, whom he would contact to see if they are still interested. As of Monday, one had agreed to meet again with Hatfield and the second had been contacted but had not yet gotten back to him.
School Board President Mike Owen said, that, “I’m obviously disappointed.”
“But I’m optimistic that we can still make something happen,” he said, stating that he still believes the dean position is important. “I hope we can still pull that together.”
The dean/A.D. job was created after Lynette Poula resigned her position as athletic director and Hatfield saw the need for an administrator who could free up time for principals to conduct more teacher evaluations. Hatfield said Poula has offered to help, though he does not think it would be fair to ask her to serve as athletic director until a new dean/A.D. is found. He said Poula was paid for a few extra days to help Ray get established, and that Ray got a lot of work done during her 13 days.
When Hatfield recommended the new dean/A.D. position, he also restructured the administrative staff somewhat, eliminating the athletic director job and creating a new director of operations, which combines transportation with buildings and grounds maintenance. Hatfield said the new structure will remain in the interim.
The next school board meeting is Aug. 6. Hatfield and Owen both said that if the other top candidates for the dean job are already committed to other jobs, then the school district will likely post the dean job again. Neither anticipate calling special meetings to get a new person on staff faster. |
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