School Board Unsure How to Fill Superintendent Vacancy
Conrad Farner's resignation is effective at the end of the day Jan. 15, and no interim superintendent is in place.
One week after accepting Superintendent Conrad Farner's resignation and forging a pricey separation agreement with him, the Greenfield School Board is undecided on how to proceed with filling the vacancy.
Farner’s resignation is effective at the end of the day Tuesday. For hours in closed session Monday evening, board members debated the pros and cons of naming an interim superintendent but came away with no clear-cut solution.
A statement issued by the School Board said, “The School District of Greenfield Board of Education is in the process of filling the Superintendent position and will be making a final decision that is in best interest of the Greenfield community in the coming week.
“We are grateful to have such a committed team of educators and administrators that continue to provide the very best services to our students during this transitional period.”
Last week, board president Bruce Bailey indicated the board would discuss elevating Director of Educational Services Todd Bugnacki to the role of interim superintendent. But Tuesday, he told Patch the board could not come to a consensus on how to fill the role on a short-term basis.
“The hiring of an interim, whoever that may be, hasn’t been decided,” Bailey said. “We’re still kicking it around. We didn’t make any decisions. It was a long meeting, and no decision was made.”
Bailey said the board would go into closed session again Jan. 21 during its regularly scheduled meeting and said he anticipated coming out of that meeting with a plan of what to do next.
Get great local stories like this on Facebook. Click to join us!
Fred
4:01 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
let Buknacki do it but tell him he will not be the permanent Superintendent even if he does a bang up job.
Nicole
6:12 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
THAT is funny.
KHD
7:06 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
I wouldn't want to let Buknaki do it. Maybe a retired superintendent would be willing to step in until a replacement is found ? Maybe a principle at one of the schools could do it also. A board member could also step in, we have some educated and expierienced board members. You just really need someone to get us through the school year.
angry resident
9:13 am on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Buknaki is just another Minnie me of farner
Terri
12:03 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
I concur with KHD. Is John Hedstrom healthy now? Anita? Retired principals--Mike, Jeff or L.inda? I would trust any of them to keep Todd from making a bad problem worse. Just not Todd please
Sbr
12:41 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
So let me see if I got this right: The district is now without: A Superintendent, Business Manager & HR Manager. Yes, I know that one person did two positions, but you are not going to find a replacement that is willing to do both for the extra $10,000 she was being paid. Seems people are all jumping ship. This all comes back to the board. Regardless if Farner was not the right person and these are all his minions (spelling?), the board is responsible for letting the district get into this situation. Who is going to want to come here with all of these issues? Both the board and union leadership need to change because under the current situation neither the taxpayers, teachers or students are being served.
John Seymour
5:07 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
If you want to blame the board...blame the one that hired Conrad in the first place. He gave them the ultimatum take me or leave me...they decided to hire him years ago rather than do a search and look where it got them. He was the one who picked the fight. Yes, the union got a little out of control around the whole Act 10 thing, but they knew what he is capable of and reacted to his threats. Now that he is gone it is time to start over with all new people. People with INTEGRITY, HONESTY, HIGH MORALS, and that will put kids first (both teachers and central office admins need to put KIDS first...even before taxpayers)
Asiseeit
8:12 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
No the boards job is not to put the students first. It's a balancing act between the taxpayers and students needs.
This whole mess is on the current board who let this get to this point as well as the union and all of their baseless accusations. I still have yet to see/hear ANY evidence of all these claims against Mr Farner. This whole thing reeks of poor union leadership leading their members down a dark road.
You have painted a picture of a disfunctional district which is now sticking. Good luck using the "it was the superintendents fault" when applying at other districts. Do you really think that administrators from other districts are going to want anything to do with a teacher from the Greenfield School district?
The union managed to drag down every teacher and staff member of the Greenfiled School district in their quest to bring down its former superintendent. Nice job. So while in the future those teachers that are layed off because of budget cuts (and that will happen every year), apply to find work elsewhere, remember your union and the nice job they did tainting YOUR reputation because of a personality conflict between the union leader and the districts Superintendant. And remember this: he and the rest of the exited administrators are all still collecting their 6 figure incomes, while you will be collecting $400 a week in unemployment.
Elections do have consequences: remember that next time you vote for someone like Karrie
John Seymour
10:31 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
I'll say it again...there is a reason why he left in the middle of the year. It's his reputation that is tarnished. That move is unprecedented. I can't remember the last time that happened anywhere.
John Seymour
8:17 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
Check this out for the role of a school board....(It's not what Belling says it is)
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/You-May-Also-Be-Interested-In-landing-page-level/Audience-The-Public-YMABI/The-Role-of-Schoo
Sbr
11:36 am on Friday, January 18, 2013
Kerri, I mean John - I hope you don't think that this board covers all of those 8 points?
John Seymour
12:01 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013
Maybe if you stopped trying to figure out who I am (I can assure I am NOT a member of the teacher's union) you could focus on the fact that a bad leader is gone and now is a great time to move the district forward in a positive direction. GSD is a sleeping giant with good teachers and strong families and is just waiting for the right person to lead them.
mjs
8:47 pm on Monday, January 21, 2013
(Kerri....LOL!!!!!) John Seymour, it's time for you to go away. You point a lot of fingers, but you yourself are rather toxic.