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Less than 25 days before Warsaw Community Schools starts its school year, the school board and superintendent Dr. Dave McGuire have tentatively reached a vocal agreement about his contract, according to Ron Yeiter, school board president.
If McGuire and the board sign off on the agreement at the 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday, the school board will need to name an interim superintendent. The board will first meet in executive session at 6 p.m. Wednesday to review the agreement.
"Everything's done right to the book," said Yeiter today. He said the school board has made sure to cross every "t" and dot every "i".
McGuire could not be reached for comment this morning. As of July 1, McGuire has served as Warsaw's superintendent for three years.
At the July 18 school board meeting, Yeiter announced that the investigation of McGuire's performance did not involve any criminal matters. McGuire stood up, left the room and did not return.
The meeting continued without McGuire and his absence was not discussed by the board or the public.
At the June 20 meeting, board member Dan Robinson made a motion appointing board president "Ron Yeiter as an investigator to work with local school attorney Max E. Reed to investigate and report back to this board whether any cause exists to pursue the termination/cancellation of the superintendent's contract, and the teacher's contract" of McGuire. The motion was approved by Robinson, Deb Wiggins, Gene England, Yeiter and Tammy Dalton, with Cathy Folk opposed and Chuck Sauders not present.
At least four persons have submitted resumes for the interim superintendent position. According to the information packet provided by Warsaw Community Schools, interested persons include Warsaw Assistant Superintendent Dr. Sandra Hess; Ralph Bailey, Columbia City; former Warsaw Community High School principal Richard Kline; and current WCHS principal Dr. Jennifer Brumfield.
Yeiter said both Bailey and Kline have served as interim superintendents with other school corporations in the past. Brumfield and Hess may be interested in becoming superintendent full time.
Yeiter said the search for a new superintendent will be very intense and thorough. It will take at least 30 days to set up the interview search process. As for timing, he said they want input from everyone, including teachers and administrators. It is not a done deal on how the search will be conducted.
"Timewise," said Yeiter, "there's never a good time when you have a changeover of administrators.
Warsaw School Board members are Yeiter, Gene England, Dan Robinson, Tammy Dalton, Deb Wiggins, Cathy Folk and Chuck Sauders. The meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. will be in the Central Instructional Materials Center Training Room, 1 Administration Drive, Warsaw.
