The Crookston Public School Board held a Special Meeting in the District Conference Room to discuss the Application Process for the Interim Superintendent for the 2022 School Year. After looking at nine applicants that were held anonymouse, they selected Dave Kuehn.
The Board first reviewed Applicant A, who had worked as the Superintendent in another School District, and found that they had a lot of leadership experiences and experience that impressed a few members of the Board, along with having multiple letters of recommendation that caught their attention.
They then reviewed Applicant B, who they also agreed had strong leadership abilities with a good amount of experience as an educator and other roles in their school district. The Board believed they were a great fit as an Interim Superintendent and believed they were liked as much if not more than Applicant A.
They then reviewed Applicant C, who they found to have great qualities and experience, but had none as a Superintendent, which they were looking for with an Interim position.
They then reviewed Applicant D, who had good qualifications such as having Construction Management experience, which was good due to the upcoming projects the school had planned for the next year and taught in school districts that had poor income but made positive results with students. When they came to
Applicant E, the Board discarded their applicant without much thought.
The Board then discussed Applicant F, where they found that they had done good things for their school district, they were also forced out after some time.
Applicant G didn’t receive much attention from the Board either due to them seeming to have some issues with their School Board and appeared to have a lack of accountability for some of their choices, so their application was discarded as well.
The Board also discarded Applicant H and I’s applications due to H looking to relocate to another state for another job and Applicant I leaving their position for personal reasons.
After discussing each of the applicants the Board narrowed their decision down to three Applicants, A, B, and D, to be the best options to be brought in. However, Chairperson Frank Fee requested that the Board narrow the pool to just one applicant to be brought in for the interview. After much deliberation, mainly between Applicants A and B, Board chose to go with Applicant B, who they revealed to be Dave Kuehn, a former teacher and Activities Director for Crookston High School, among many other roles. “Dave Kuehn is a former longtime teacher in Crookston Technology. He was Dean of Students and Coach in football, leading them to State, and was the Activities Director for quite a while,” Crookston School Board Chairperson Frank Fee explained. “He is currently the Superintendent in Underwood, Minnesota where he followed our current Superintendent Jeremy Olson four years ago. Dave was going to retire after this year, but saw the opening for an interim and thought he could help Crookston during the interim.” He was also chosen for being able to begin the job relatively quickly due to Kuehn already having connections in Crookston and having the experience to complete the projects the school needs him to complete over the next year.
The Board passed the motion unanimously to reach out to Kuehn to discuss a contract with him soon to discuss his salary and other conditions. If he accepts the position, he will work with Superintendent Olson and officially begin the position on the first of July.
