“We mandated whoever we hired, we really wanted them to come in and get us ready and aligned to our goals to raise achievement. And, so we didn’t want just a placeholder and that’s exactly what Jim did. He came in and assessed what was going on and offered us some solutions. And, we’re continuing to look into those”.
The board voted 6-to-nothing to make Feil the superintendent of schools for the remainder of this school year and for 2023-’24. We asked Soeldner “If she was concerned by a joint statement early this week from 5 past school board presidents that they should open up the position to a nationwide search?”
”I wasn’t concerned, (yet) I am saddened that they totally disagree and think there’s going to be a mass exodus of teachers. That saddens me they’re not willing to support us, but I get it. They have every right to voice their opinions and they should, but at the end of the day it’s not enough for us to spend the money and the time to do a national search when we already have the person that is able to move this forward”.
Soelder stated Feil has educated ‘them’ that if you’re not proficient in Reading by 3rd grade, you are going to struggle. She added, “Not only do we have to really work on those grades, but I think we’ve gotten to a system where we’re pushing kids through that never get caught up. It’s not just a curriculum problem, it is a systemic problem. There is something going on with the way we’re positioning our teachers and paraprofessionals.”