Good bye! Someone told me that 2013 is the start of new beginnings. This sure is a good start. I hope our school board looks very carefully at the next candidates. Good luck to them in there quest.

The next Superintendent must be required to have a Doctors Degree and be required to live in the district within six months of his/her hiring.

PLEASE,PLEASE DO NOT HIRE MR.BUGNACKI AS A PERMANENT REPLACEMENT. I believe he is part of the horrible administrative culture that exists in Greenfield

This is great news for the District. The Board should be congratulated.

I understand that the board did do the right thing in This case. I am glad Bailey said what he said because he is right, but having the opportunity to turn a page in the district was the right thing to do. Bob also makes a great point in what the qualifications should be. Now it is up to the citizens to be vigilant and make sure the current board makes the best decision for our districts future.

Good Riddance, to bad for Cedarburg though

Do not hire Todd Bugnacki. He thought Farner was the greatest administrator. He wanted to be just like him. With so many people out of work we can get the cream of the crop. Maybe now we will hire qualified people instead of friends of administration.

There are many people better than what you currently have. Do a search and someone strong will turn up.

Bugnacki is also part of the problem - he is part of the "good ole boys" club along with hiring friends/family that will fall "in line". This board better wake up and do what is right.

Until Greenfield has more of a functional board this district is never going to attract or keep a quality candidate. Also be prepared to be paying a pay and benefit package in the $190,000 to $200,000 range... That's the area medium.

Medium salary is 160,000 +
Insurance 18000 per year
TSA contributions - most are $5000 to 15000 per year
Car allowance etc.
This is on the low end. Elm brook just payed $185,000 plus the extras
Farner was the lowest out there besides GTown

So here's the deal that most people don't quite get, there will be a small pool of qualified candidates that will apply. Why? In Wisconsin, it is law that the Sup must have spent some time in the classroom and come from a teaching background at some point in their career. In theory, that sounds great doesn't it? Yes and it's not necessarily a bad thing but it greatly limits the people who are in this field and who can actually run a school district. And guess what Greenfield, these candidates are smart, they are going to be closely examining us and we aren't the greatest. We obviously have bad momentum that needs to be corrected, we have a lower income population and worse yet, our community support is not well known. How long did it take to finally pass the long needed building referendum? How involved are we compared to other suburban districts our size? To be frank, we get a big D. We are one step up from MPS. Franklin which has none of the challenges that Greenfield has, even had a hard time finding a good candidate. So when people speak about how awful it is for the board to pay out a partial contract, I can confidently say you might not know everything that needs to be taken into consideration.

How attractive would we be if Greenfield hadn't settled with Conrad? Why would a new Sup even take a chance at such a challenging position if it appears that the board and community might be hostile. I suspect the board highly suggested to Conrad that he look for another job because they and the community were so unhappy with him, he did so and they settled. They got off cheap compared to terminating his contract early and they saved faced for Greenfield.

As a parent who let the district, I'm glad he left. I agree with Bailey, he should not have received the tax annuity. Greenfield is tight on money as it is. That money should go for educating children. I think the next superintendent should be an outside candidates with experience. Not Tod Bugnacki. A person with fresh ideas.

That letter sure extremelty self-promoting. I don't think he could have given himself anymore credit except for invventing the Internet. I have seen first-hand how he has dismantled the joy and commaraderie that was at Maple Grove and hope that they can rebound from this. A great start was the removal of last year's Principal, who by the way, is out of the Greenfield School District as well. Guess they could not hide her incompetence and gave her the same direction as Farner, "You better start looking"!

Thank you Greenfield School Board. I know that Farner left because he saw your writing on the walls. He was rejected for superintendent by at least two other districts, Muskego and Menomonee Falls and might have tried to stay and continue to devastate Greenfield further if it were not for your courage. I wish that we would not have needed to pay the TSA, but the fact that you gave that to him suggests to me that there was information that the public did not have access to. With or without that payout, the education of Greenfield's children took a bright, hopeful step forward by your actions.

John, I have had teachers in other districts tell me they would never teach in Greenfield if given the choice between almost every other district. Bad leadership is cited and low community support. New Berlin,MPS and Greenfield are the known stinkers and the last choice among the best candidates. That is the reality right now. There is no reason for it anymore and we can do better.

You know, there is also some other school news about Christy Timms, (GHS teacher) who has recieved one of the highest honors in the COUNTRY. It would be nice to see some comments and congratulations for this Teacher in that article. These are the teachers we need to keep in Greenfield. Lets show some support, Please

these positions are rungs on a latter to greater pay opportunities.why does it cost so much to educate children to get such poor results? does more money fix this?no .third wolrd countries educate better fo much less under a tree.education in this country is not about the kids, its about the contracts, beennifits and pensions of the people we trust our children to .this man left his contract early.does he care about process here or is he climbing the ladder to fill his own pockets? I see this happen over and over and the tax payers get stuck over and over.citizens its time to take education back from those who abuse us.we are the boss .we pay their wages they are our children the system is broken.together we can fix it. educators,you are public servants.you are either for us or against us.

if mr. farner were a true pupil caring addministrator he could return the $80000 . he chose to early out the contract. lets watch what he does. will this district fail if we dont fill his premature void?

I know it can not happen but what the district truly needs in its next superintendant is a someone with business experience. We ask folks to run a multi milliondollar operation and all of thier experience and training is in education. A few business classes can not compensate for some real world experience. Perhaps then a well thought out budget process that does not simply continue the way things have always been done could lead to better results in the classroom and for the taxpayer. What that person does not have in education experience can be supplements by other staff.

Thier first order of business would likely be to look at more shared services with neighboring districts, including thw work of the district offices

It would also help if they got rid of that union hack of a teacher that run their union. Then Greenfield can have a fresh start.

Mr. Seymour, Lee, Terri - you pontificate with made up crap. You have no facts, you have never spoken at a meeting (if you are using your real names) - probably never have attended a meeting - and you are hurting this district and this community with your "opinions". Maple Grove is the top performing school right now (if you watched or attended board meetings you would know that) This district's staff - top to bottom - is caring, intelectual and supportive of administration. Certain board members have made a name for themselves by behaving in an unacceptable manner and acting on false information, relayed to them as gossip. The board president doesn't even to appear to be listening - and doesnt stop them. Then they issue an insincere apology 2 months later, like that makes it ok to say whatever they want. Would you want to work in that kind of an environment???? Please stick to facts in your comments.

I think it is Mr. Farner that owes the district an apology, but since he is leaving, that is more than good for me. I still think they should do an audit of how all the referendum money was spent on the school. Look how he handled the work rules, It brought about a law suit. I know some teachers that didn't want to speak out against Conrad on their own for fear of non renewal. The Man was not good for the District and we will be able to move forward in a positive manner. I also think there should be some other non renewals as some people are just to close to Conrad. It happens all the time in business, when the head guy goes, so do some of his closest allies.
The board we have now, I think, is one of the better boards we have had in a long time. Mr, Bailey knows exactly what was going on in the district, he is an informed, well respected citizen of Greenfield. Lets move on, the district will be in a much better place a year from now.

Wow, he must have been okay at one time to have been promoted to Supt.

I am glad Conrad is leaving, but I really hope that potential candidates for the job aren't reading these comments! John Seymour-if you really worked closely with the admin. in Greenfield you are going to scare away anyone interested by letting them know they can't trust the people around them. You have been making inflammatory comments for months. They may be true, but they are not going to help us move forward or attract top talent. Let it go... He's leaving and we are left to try to fix what remains. Let's try to focus on and be positive about finding someone new. I want some new talented, excited blood to turn this district around, not to be stuck with whatever we can get!

Jean, I agree, the focus is finding someone now.

The key element to follow is a thorough evaluation process which the board should work on now, based on this experience. Teachers, parents, administrators and students should yearly answer a series of questions that would easily monitor the superintendent's growth process in working to raise the success of all students. I was a high-ranking administrator in this district for years and this type of "good ole boy" promotion has gone on for decades through the horrible, immoral, devious and unethical activities of the past superintendents. Sadly, for me, I was forced to leave and lie in order for the administration to promote another who was favored, even though I helped to raise the test scores considerably during my tenure. Think about the children for once, instead of hiring people who will climb a ladder of self-promotion, hurting and crushing those in the way. Treat people with humane respect, making sure the new leader has no connection to anyone in the present district office.

Well said Renald!