Superintendent Christensen will end Greene County tenure after 15 years

By Rick Morain and Brandon Hurley

Jefferson Herald

The Greene County School District Board of Education on Jan. 19 accepted the year-end resignations of two longtime staff members, including superintendent Tim Christensen.
Christensen has served as superintendent of the district for the past 15 years, hired for the Jefferson-Scranton position in 2007. He’s been the only superintendent in the history of the Greene County Community School District, which formed in 2014.
He feels the timing of the end of the 2021-22 academic year is right for him to step away, referencing recent facility updates as his top priorities. Now that they’ve been completed or near the end, he feels his time is up.

“First, although we are continually doing facility upgrades, we are finished with the construction of the new high school and career academy as well as the remodel of the middle school,” Christensen said a few days after his resignation approval. He believes he’s leaving the district in a good place. “Second, I feel that we will be done dealing with the COVID issue as we currently know it by the end of the current school year.  
A new person will be able to come into the position and hopefully be able to concentrate on the things we traditionally associate with education.”

Christensen was hired away from the Harris-Lake Park school district back in 2007, replacing Michael Haluska.
Board president Steve Fisher spoke on behalf of the board last week, mentioning how grateful the district has been of Christensen’s time.  

“(We’d like to) thank Tim for your years of service. The last five years have been extremely busy, trying and challenging,” Fisher said at the meeting. “I think you’ve risen to the occasion and served us very well.”
The other resignee, high school math teacher Patty Fisher, has taught in the district for 18 years. The board thanked and commended both for their service to Jefferson-Scranton, Greene County, and (with Christensen) East Greene.
Christensen also spent four years as 6-12 principal at Panorama as well as 7-12 principal and athletic director at Lennox. He began his career as a social studies teacher and coach at Beemer, Nebraska public schools.
Christensen oversaw a number of construction projects and additions, including two additions to the elementary school, the middle school remodel and the construction of the new high school and career academy along Highway 30, which was completed in 2020. Christensen was proud of the continued sharing partnership with Paton-Churdan and the Greene County Early Learning Center while he helped spearhead the teacher leadership and compensation program. He notes the school district is in stable financial condition.

“This was not always pleasant as it required building closures, staffing reductions, and budget cuts,” Christensen said.
Christensen said he’ll miss the people and relationships most, and though he hasn’t yet squared away his post Greene County plans, he says he wants to get back into coaching.

“During my five years of teaching JH/HS Social Studies in Nebraska, I coached football, girls’ basketball, and golf,” Christensen said. “I miss the relationship building and teaching aspects related to coaching.”

The board met in special session Tuesday morning this week to discuss procedures for replacing Christensen.
After discussing various consulting firms, the board voted to retain the Omaha firm of McPherson-Jacobson to lead the district through the search process for a new superintendent. Lyle Schwartz of Story City, former superintendent at the West Monona and South Hamilton districts, will work with the Greene County School Board as the McPherson-Jacobson representative.

The board hopes to meet with Schwartz next Wednesday evening, Feb. 2, to begin the search process. Various stakeholders groups, including the school board, school staff, and community members, will participate during the search.
The board hopes to have a new superintendent hired by April. Christensen’s last day on the job is June 30, and the new Greene County superintendent would begin July 1. His or her contract would be for two years.
McPherson-Jacobson’s price to conduct the search is a base of $6,500, with a maximum of $8,500 including expenses.
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John McConnell was absent from the Jan. 25 special meeting.

On Jan. 19 the board also accepted three retirement resignations, effective at the end of the school year, from longtime district employees: kindergarten teacher Jennifer Zmolek, 16 years of service; prekindergarten associate Kaija Kuusisto-Wolf, 26 years of service; and bus driver Meladee Graven, 23 years of service. The board commended them for their service to the district(s).
The board hired instructional math coach Audrey Hinote as elementary principal beginning in the 2022-23 fiscal year (July 1) at a salary of $96,000 for 220 days of service. Hinote replaces Scott Johnson in that position, who earlier this school year had announced his resignation.

Soccer coach contracts for 2022 were approved as follows: Carl Behne as head boys’ coach, Chad Black as assistant boys’ coach, and Maribelle Hernandez as head girls’ coach. The assistant girls’ coach position remains open.
The board approved the following 2022 baseball and softball coaching contracts: Matthew Paulsen varsity baseball, Kevin Paulsen assistant varsity baseball, Wesley Anderson middle school baseball, Tom Kennedy varsity softball, Marissa Promes assistant varsity softball, Jacque Schirmbeck middle school softball, and Heath Patrick assistant middle school softball. The assistant middle school baseball position remains open.
The board approved the bid of $98,170 from Iowa Athletic Field Construction Company of Webster City for football field resurfacing and installation of an irrigation system.
The board voted to submit three requests for approval of local funding from the state’s School Budget Review Committee. One is for the current year’s school-wide voluntary preschool program’s increased enrollment for $3,613.50. Another is for Greene County’s share of special education administrative costs for the Grandwood consortium for $15,887.38. The third is for the district’s share of special education administrative costs for the Woodward Academy Day school consortium for $754.93.

The board approved four fundraisers: “Java and Jazz” by the high school band, strawberry sales and Valentine Day’s treats by FCCLA, bake sale/chuck-a duck by Interact (for the McDonald and Oakes families), and monetary and art supplies collection for Blank Children’s Hospital by the high school government service learning project.
The district received notice from LuVerne Community School to discontinue sharing of the curriculum director position at year-end. LuVerne praised the successes and accomplishments of the last six years due to Karen Sandberg’s expertise in that role. LuVerne is planning to merge with the Algona School District in the near future.

FFA representatives Mallory Prescott, Grace Curtis, Allison Fields, Shannon Woodley and Cody Stephenson reported on the National FFA Convention and Expo held in Indianapolis, IN, this past October.
Instructional math coach Audrey Hinote gave a presentation on the new math curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade. The new format is problem-based.
The board approved the district’s pre-kindergarten program policies and procedures handbook after correcting a date in one section.

The board reviewed several of its standing policies. A slight change was made to Policy 106 dealing with assistance animals, as recommended by the Iowa Association of School Boards.
The board placed on first reading a change to its policy on early graduation, removing the deadline for student requests.
Superintendent Christensen reported the need to hire another English language learner (ELL) teacher in the district in conjunction with the diversity project effort getting underway in the county. He also noted that apprenticeship grants are available for classroom associates and teachers, and that a comprehensive needs assessment is being done for career and technical education.
Other members of the administrative team also gave their monthly reports.

At the end of the meeting the board went into closed session, as allowed by the Iowa Code, for evaluation of “the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance, or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation and that individual requests a closed session.”
The closed session lasted 34 minutes.