A long-time leader in the Paton-Churdan (P-C) School District is calling it a career.

Superintendent Kreg Lensch announced his retirement earlier this school year and now the search is on to find the Rockets new captain to take the helm. Principal Annie Smith had this to say about Lensch’s dedication to their school district over the many years.

“We definitely are sad to see Mr. Lensch go. He has been with us for quite a few years now and has really helped to set the tone, understands sharing, and just really has done a good job there. We are sad to see him go, but we definitely wish him the best in his next venture.” 

P-C has a sharing agreement in place with Glidden-Ralston (G-R) for the superintendent position. Smith says the P-C School Board is not considering hiring a search firm at this time, as she explains the reason behind that decision.

“Just because there are some possibilities out there. There are a lot of schools that are in the same situation. It’s definitely a new normal. A lot of schools, especially some of the smaller rural schools, utilize the superintendent-sharing model. So it’s not uncommon anymore as maybe it had been 15-20 years ago. There’s definitely some possibilities out there.”  

Smith adds while the Board is in the beginning stages of information gathering to find a new superintendent, they also need to find a partner school district to share that position. Smith says G-R has elected to be with Coon Rapids-Bayard for next school year to share the superintendent.