Apr. 5—ROCHESTER — How long can a Minnesota school district expect to retain its superintendent?
That’s the question Byron Public Schools was grappling with this week as its board of education debated the qualifications of a candidate against the speculation about how long he might stay in the role. It’s a question multiple districts, no doubt, have been pondering following the churn among superintendents throughout Southeast Minnesota in recent months and years.
Part of that churn is built into the system. According to Minnesota law, school districts and superintendents have to renegotiate their contracts with each other every three years. Although a superintendent can stay with a district for more than one contract period, that three-year benchmark can lend itself to turnover.
“The reason that superintendent tenures are shorter and shorter all the time is that you’re maxed out at a three-year contract,” Barb Dorn of the Minnesota School Boards Association told the Byron School Board. “And boards and superintendents’ relationships have changed. There are more and more districts that, at three years, want a new approach.”
According to a 2023 presentation by the Minnesota Rural Education Association, the top reason for superintendents to leave a position was their relationship with the district’s school board. Following that, in order, were work-life balance and family, stress, school staffing, and the combined category of lack of state funding and mandates.
The same presentation from the MREA said there had been 351 superintendent openings in Minnesota since 2017. For perspective, there are 327 public school districts in the state overall, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.
During its interview with Nate Walbruch, who has since accepted the position with the district, the Byron School Board was wondering what they might be able to expect from him in terms of longevity. By the time he was interviewing for the position in Byron, he had been superintendent of Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Public Schools for two years. Before that, he was the principal of Rochester’s Century High School for two years.
“I don’t love the idea of hiring someone, only looking at what they can do for us for three years,” Byron School Board member Alisha Eiken said. “I think, whomever we hire, we need to imagine them here for a decade.”
Other board members disputed the importance of longevity. David Wernimont, for one, said it was more important to have someone who could address the district’s issues at hand, rather than focus on how long that person may stay with the district.
“The district needs to mend and heal,” Wernimont said. “The district doesn’t need a 10-year plan.”
Byron’s next-door neighbor, Kasson-Mantorville Public Schools, has seen even more upheaval. The district’s former Superintendent Mark Matuska resigned in 2023 after more than a decade with the district. The next year, the district hired a one-year interim superintendent before hiring Ted Ihns ahead of the 2024-25 year. During his interview, Ihns told the K-M board members that he intended the district to be the final chapter in his career.
He announced his resignation in January, halfway through his first year at the job.
Obligated to begin its search process all over again, the Kasson-Mantorville School Board offered a contract with Beth Giese of Kenyon-Wanamingo on Monday, March 31.
Her move to Kasson-Mantorville will now result in an opening at her previous district. Giese had been the superintendent of Kenyon-Wanamingo for two years, after beginning her role in 2023.
At Plainview-Elgin-Millville, the school board recently approved a contract with Courtney Frie, who will take the reins at the district in July.
Bill Ihrk served as superintendent of P-E-M for six years before retiring in 2022. The next superintendent was Darrin Strosahl, who stayed for two years from 2022-24. The district then hired an interim superintendent for a year before approving the contract with Frie.
That means that by the time 2025-26 rolls around, Plainview-Elgin-Millville and Kasson-Mantorville each will have had four superintendents over the course of five years.
Tammy Champa was the superintendent of Pine Island Public Schools for more than a decade before taking a position in Hastings in the summer of 2023. Just recently, her name was included on the list of semifinalists for the superintendent position at Byron Public Schools. If the district had chosen her, she would have ended her tenure at Hastings after two years.
Most recently, Champa’s successor at Pine Island, Tonya Constantine, announced she would be resigning to take a deputy role at Anoka-Hennepin, which is the largest district in the state in terms of student population. She was with Pine Island for two years.
“It’s interesting to me that folks in the area are questioning the reason for the number of districts that are changing leadership,” Constantine said. “Because it’s not unusual anymore in this business. A typical superintendent contract is three years. And, you know, the position comes with a certain amount of stress.”