Mar 28, 2017 2 min read

CARMICHAELS – Carmichaels Area School Board tabled its search for a new superintendent in order to save money.

The board previously planned to hire someone by July 1 to shadow Superintendent John Menhart during his final year before his retirement, which is expected in June 2018.

“With the budgets the way they are, it’s just fiscally responsible to wait,” Menhart said.

The district’s practice for years has been to hire an assistant superintendent a year before the current one retired as a means of having the assistant shadow the superintendent before taking over the position.

“We’re going to discontinue that practice to save the district money,” Menhart said.

He estimates it will save the district more than $100,000.

In previous years, Menhart said, the district hired a new superintendent from within its own ranks, which lessened the cost of having an assistant superintendent for a year. Menhart, who’s worked in the district nearly 40 years, was a principal with Carmichaels before being hired as assistant superintendent to the previous superintendent Craig Baily, who did the same under former superintendent Jim Zalar.

Menhart said if the board hires a new superintendent outside the district, the cost of having the new hire as an assistant superintendent for a year would increase significantly because it would be an entirely new salary. The board, which made this decision at its March 16 meeting, reviewed 12 applicants for the position and interviewed five of them, including one person already within the district, he said.

“I thought they all had their strengths,” Menhart said.

He said now the position will be open to new applicants and the board will continue to accept applications until the position is filled. He said the board will most likely start the interview process over again by Christmas and hire someone before June 2018 when he retires.

“And that person will be ready to hit the ground running,” Menhart said.