The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
District narrows principal search
Monroe Middle School principal, out-of-state candidate top 2 choices
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: June 7, 2007
After conducting interviews on Monday with three candidates for Saline High School principal, district officials expect to reach a decision sometime this week on who to hire to replace current principal Jean Durst, who is moving to a new position next month.
Advertisement
Out of approximately 15 applicants for the post, three candidates were invited to take part in an interview process that included round-robin meetings with parents and students, the administrative staff, and teachers.
Monroe Middle School Principal Ryan McLeod, Fremont High School Principal Tom Palmer and Ben Williams, principal of East Henderson High School in North Carolina, spent Monday afternoon answering questions from each group.
By Tuesday afternoon, Superintendent Beverley Geltner had narrowed her choice down to McLeod and Williams. A search subcommittee planned to make additional reference calls on the final two candidates Wednesday, after which Geltner would make her selection.
"Both are very strong candidates," said Deputy Superintendent Nancy Brenton.
Williams has been the principal of East Henderson High School in Henderson County, N.C., for four years. The school has a student population of 1,050, compared to Saline's 1,850. Williams, a former English and social studies teacher who has been in education for 11 years, said he was looking to move to Michigan because he has family there.
McLeod was an assistant principal at Monroe High School for three years before becoming principal at Monroe Middle School. He is a former physics and math teacher. He has been in education for 10 years.
Durst, who has been at the high school's helm for four years after taking over for Joe Rossi in what was originally planned to be an interim role, planned to retire next June. When Assistant Principal Sean Enright moved to the central office to become executive director of K-12 assessment and secondary instruction, Durst put forth the suggestion of hiring a new principal rather than a new assistant principal.
"I wanted what was best for the district," she said. "It just makes life and the transition smoother."
Durst, who has been with the district since 1996, will serve a year in the newly created post of executive director of high school community relations and student affairs, assuming some responsibilities of an assistant principal and acting as a mentor for the new principal.
The new principal is expected to have a salary of between $91,362 and $100,073, depending on which step of the pay scale he is hired. The anticipated start date is July 1.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
