HOISINGTON — The USD 431 Board of Education, school staff and faculty and interested persons from the public had the opportunity to meet candidates for the superintendent position this week when they visited and toured the city and sat for interviews with board members. According to the USD 431 Board of Education, candidates for the position of Superintendent were selected for interviews based on their fit with desired characteristics that were developed with input from focus groups that were utilized throughout the search process.
Patrick Crowdis interviewed with the board of education on the evening of Tuesday, March 10. Crowdis began his education at Barton Community College, and later Newman University. He started his career as a science and biology teacher at Nickerson, later moving into administration, working his way up through activities director, assistant principal and principal positions in McPherson, Nickerson, Gardner, Spearville and Dodge City. Most recently, his family moved to Spearville where he became the principal for Spearville Middle and High School for 10 years. He is currently serving as the Assistant Principal for Dodge City High School (USD 443).
His children are currently students at Spearville Middle and High School, and he misses having everyone together in the same district. He applied for the superintendent position at Hoisington last year, and when the opportunity came up again this year, he was quick to jump on it.
The public asked questions about his familiarity with the CTE Process and Pathways, his position on technology, and his familiarity with the MTSS process.
Steven Raymer, Bird City, visited the community and interviewed on Thursday, March 12. Raymer is currently serving as the Superintendent for Cheylin USD 103. He is in his third year in that position. Previously Steven served as principal of North Elementary for USD 352 in Goodland for three years. He shared how he believes it is important to be engaged with the students in the district, and make sure they know the staff and faculty care about them. He spoke about the importance of understanding what kinds of trauma some students may face in their day to day lives, and how that affects their ability to perform at school.
When asked if he is familiar with changes to Perkins funding, he responded that he was not, and that he had staff that was well versed in the program and relied on them for their expertise.
Raymer was impressed with the STEM labs in the elementary schools, and excited to see the level of engagement the students displayed.
Wednesday morning, BOE President Pastor Don Fisher received a call from Larry Lyder, Superintendent for USD 215 Lakin, who was scheduled to interview on Wednesday. The night before, he accepted another offer from a different school district, so cancelled the interview with USD 431. Fisher attempted to line up an interview with another candidate for later that day, but the timing didn’t work out, he said. The possibility of an interview sometime after Spring break was not ruled out.
According to Fisher, board members have so far been impressed with both Crowdis and Raymer, and planned to meet Thursday night following Raymer’s interview to discuss the two candidates.
