paton-churdan-school-sign-279x300-8

Following the retirement announcement of shared Superintendent Kreg Lensch, the Paton-Churdan School Board was put in a precarious situation.

Not only did the school board have to find a new superintendent, they also had to find a new partner school district. At about the same time that Lensch made his retirement announcement, the other partner school district with Glidden-Ralston chose to share a new superintendent with Coon Rapids-Bayard. P-C School Board President Dave Palmer says they started hearing back from several school districts that were interested and they ultimately chose Southeast Valley Superintendent Brian Johnson. Palmer describes what stood out from Johnson.

“We’re really impressed with Mr. Johnson and also with Southeast Valley just with the experience he has, not only in that shared position, but also his experience level with operational sharing and also just in school finances, which is obviously so important in that position. He very quickly became kind of our leading candidate, for sure.” 

Palmer says they also adjusted the time commitment for Johnson, compared to what’s currently in place for Lensch, being at P-C two days per week.

“You know as we were kind working through things with thinking about what our needs are, looking forward we really felt like we probably would need that superintendent position one day per week.” 

Johnson will officially start with P-C on July 1st.