Weiser School District searches for new superintendent

By: 
Philip A. Janquart

Board members are also now looking for a new high school principal

Weiser School District board members held a special meeting Wednesday, March 1 to interview candidates for district superintendent.

 The position came open after current Superintendent Wade Wilson announced his retirement during a regular meeting held Monday, Feb. 13.
 “After careful consideration and reflection, I am informing you of my intent to retire from the Weiser School District at the end of the 2022-23 school year, effective June 30, 2023,” he said in a letter to district board members. “I will be forever grateful for the opportunities provided to me by you, former trustees, past superintendents Wil Overgaard and Jim Reed, and for my colleagues in the district. And our community has been amazing. Weiser has afforded me a special place to work, raise a family, and live with a sense of pride.”
 Wilson was a math teacher at Weiser Middle School for 11 years before serving as principal at Pioneer Elementary School for 18 years. He has spent the last four years as the district superintendent. 
 The board met last week to discuss how it would move forward in its search for Wilson’s replacement. At least one district employee has expressed interest in the position and two more are on the district board’s radar, according to Vice Chairman Justin Erickson who added that candidates must be certified to serve as a superintendent in the State of Idaho.
 “We will open it up to potential internal hires and give those people an opportunity to apply, and then will follow up with interviews,” he said last week. “If we don’t select an internal candidate, then we would go and take a look at outside candidates.”
 Erickson said the Idaho School Board Association would assist in that process.
 “In terms of looking at internal candidates, we really think that’s important because as being the most important position in the district, we really want to be able to look at the track record of the person and there is no better judgment than first-hand knowledge. We really want to take a close look at the people we already know and have a proven track record because you start interviewing people you don’t know, and you are taking someone else’s word. That is hard to do, especially when the stakes are so high, so that’s what we are doing.”
Principal search
 Current Weiser High School Principal Dave Davies was reportedly a desired candidate when Wil Overgaard retired four years ago, but he did not pursue the position.
 “It wasn’t part of his career plan,” Erickson said. “He is great for the district, and we really like the work he does. He is such a great asset to the community. He recently took a new job with us to be the Federal Program Administrator, so he is going to have a new role next year as we expand one of our current roles.”
 Traditionally, Federal Program Administrator duties have been carried out through a combined role under the WSD’s Federal Programs and Special Services position currently held by Angie Halvorson who oversees the district’s special education program. 
 “In the past, the special education, that manager also did federal programs and there has been such an emphasis and increase in our special education program,” Erickson said. “When I was in school, we had maybe three special education students; now we have nearly 200.”
 Davies’ departure from WHS leaves yet another important position to fill.
 “We are going to be hiring a new high school principal and I know one of our long-time counselors is retiring,” Erickson said. “We have a bunch of other manager positions that are probably going to come open, so that’s one of the reasons we are really trying to move quickly on the hiring a new superintendent.

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18 E. Idaho St.
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