With Superintendent's Future Uncertain, Greenfield School Board Debates Immediately Filling Assistant Opening

With Superintendent Conrad Farner’s future with the Greenfield School District r, some members of the School Board are in no rush to replace Dr. John Thomsen, whose resignation was accepted by the board Monday night.

Thomsen, the district’s Director of Secondary Education, has accepted a position as Superintendent of the St. Francis School District. His last day in Greenfield is June 30.

Farner suggested to the board that the administration begin a search to replace Thomsen immediately. The motion passed, 5-2, but with and a rocky financial future awaiting the district, board members Bruce Bailey and Dave Richlen disagreed.

“I am not in favor of replacing Mr. Thomsen’s position at this time,” Bailey said. “I think it’s an opportunity to save some money for the district and we might need that money for other things depending on what happens with the budget.”

Bailey asked that a study be done comparing Greenfield’s number of administrators to the totals of other area, or comparable districts.

Farner said Thomsen’s salary and benefits account for roughly $150,000, and said districts Greenfield’s size (approximately 3,700 students) should have 16 administrators. Greenfield has four.

“If we do not replace John Thomsen, we’d have three people doing the work of 16 and I’m not sure how that’s reasonable,” Farner said. “And I’m not sure what the rationale would be to eliminate one position when the board has already said it would not make any more cuts because they feel we’re at the bare bones right now. … The reality is cutting one full-time staff position isn’t going to come close to solving our budget problems.”

Farner said some money could be saved by reorganizing administrative duties, but was adamant about the position being a full-time hire.

“We need bodies; we need people that can put in hours,” he said. “The current administration puts in between 60 and 70 hours a week. I don’t know that asking them to get up to 80 is fair or reasonable to anyone.”

Richlen wanted the administration to see what, if anything, happens with Farner, who went through a series of interviews for the Menomonee Falls opening last week. Farner estimated he’d know his status by the end of this week.

“It might be worth our time and effort to wait and see what that (new) superintendent suggests we do and see what way they’d like to go,” Richlen said. “At that point it becomes their hire. … It would be nice to give the next superintendent the flexibility to hire who he thinks is the best for his team, not who Conrad thought was best for his team.”

Other board members disagreed.

“It’s a big seat to fill and I think it’s imperative that we hire someone as soon as possible so Dr. Thomsen can give some foresight to that person on what the job consists of,” board member Rick Moze said.

Farner argued that in his eight years with the district, each decision and hire he made was in the best interest of the district, and this would be no different.

“I’d say I’m more qualified than anyone coming in to create and work with this (administration) team to come up with a (job) proposal that would benefit the district and would be beneficial for whoever the next superintendent would be,” he said.

Farner expected Thomson's position, or more likely a modified position containing some of the duties Thomsen performs now, to be posted within the next 7-14 days.