Kelly Hertz/P&D

YSD Goes With Kindle

Yankton High School Principal Dr. Wayne Kindle has been chosen to replace Dr. Joe Gertsema as superintendent of the Yankton School District. Kindle will move into his new job July 1.

 

Posted: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 10:33 pm

After searching for a superintendent for the past several months, the Yankton School District (YSD) school board has decided to fill the position by promoting from within.

Dr. Wayne Kindle, who has been serving as principal of the Yankton High School since 2007, will take the reins as YSD superintendent July 1.

Kindle told the Press & Dakotan he is honored and humbled to be chosen as the superintendent of YSD.

“Our students, staff and administrators have worked hard to continue the strong tradition of academics, fine arts and athletics in the district,” he said. “Most important has been the success of students when they leave YSD. I also look forward to creating short and long terms goals, which benefit the quality of education that we provide our students.”

Kindle has been with YSD since 1991, when he began his career in the district as a sixth grade teacher. While at YSD, he pursued advancing degrees at the University of South Dakota. By 1994, Kindle moved to the Yankton Middle School to become an associate principal, and was promoted to YMS principal in 1995.

After serving 12 years as YMS principal, Kindle became the principal at YHS, a position he has held since 2007.

“Dr. Kindle has not only served YSD for more than 20 years, but he has also served the Yankton community during this time by serving on numerous community boards and volunteer committees,” said Jay Williams, member of the YSD school board. “He has raised his family here and has a daughter who has returned to Yankton and currently serves as a dentist.”

Kindle said that he plans to do a lot of listening and meeting with people to gather their ideas.

“If there is mistrust, I want to gain the trust and confidence back of those who feel this way,” he said. “Between now and the end of the current school year, I have many things to get done and finish at YHS. My plan is to provide the students at YHS with a great finish to the 2012-13 school year, and I look forward to moving into the leadership role as superintendent.”

Sarah Carda, who was elected to be a YSD board member last week, said she’s excited that Kindle was named the superintendent.

“I understand that the candidate pool was very well qualified, but Dr. Kindle is the type of individual and leader who would stand out,” she said. “I look forward to working with him, and I respect his leadership style and his accomplishments within the district speak for       themselves.”

Carda worked with Kindle when he served on the board of trustees at Mount Marty College, where he oversaw the committee on enrollment management and student      affairs.

“I was always impressed with Kindle’s ability to calmly tackle difficult topics and never personalize the situation,” she said. “He is very well respected in the community and has one of the strongest work ethics I have witnessed.”

Kathy Greeneway, member of the school board’s personnel committee, said Kindle’s experience within the district will benefit him as superintendent.

“His clear passion for student success is very much exemplified when he talks about students and the success he wants them to have,” she said. “Certainly his education and background will be great attributes for him, as well.”

Superintendent Dr. Joe Gertsema’s term will end on June 30, and Kindle will take over the next day.

“Dr. Kindle is fully aware of the budget problems we’ve had, and it should be a pretty seamless transition, as far as him moving from principal to superintendent,” Greeneway said. “We have a great business manager who will be able to help him and great staff members that can lend their support for him, too.”

Carda said she has high respect for Kindle and his advocacy for academics and providing children with the best experience possible.

“He is someone that has high standards, doesn’t tolerate out-of-bounds behavior and works hard to help all children,” she said. “I look forward to his calm and competent leadership during the difficult times ahead. He is someone that I can look up to and learn from, and, most of all, trust.”

One of Kindle’s first responsibilities as superintendent will be to select a new high school principal.

“He’ll advertise for the position and look for a person to come in and become the YHS principal,” Greeneway said. “He’ll be able to see who is interested in that position, and the personnel committee will work with him in interviewing potential candidates.”

The school board was aided in its search by Dakota Educational Consulting, a contract that cost the district $8,000, which helped the board find candidates for the search. Despite picking an internal candidate, board officials said their search would not have gone as well as it did without the help of the firm.

“I think the search firm was a tremendous help for us,” Greeneway said. “We had a great selection of candidates who were interested in the position. The consulting group did a great job to help us go through the candidates after they presented the information about each person. However, the decision ultimately rested on the board to narrow down the selection to the five people we chose for on campus interviews.”

Williams said it would have been “irresponsible” for the board to attempt selecting a superintendent without the help of the search firm.

“The search for a superintendent is, perhaps, the most important decision a school board will make,” he said. “To make such a decision without assistance would be inappropriate, in my opinion. I would have no idea on how to attract viable candidates for the district.”

Williams added that the consultants not only assisted the board in finding candidates, but also assisted them by providing a lot of knowledge to assist the board members in their decision.

“The firm also helped us set up the interviews, not only with the board, but also with other stake holders,” he said. “They also educated us on the types of questions interviewers should consider asking the candidates. The $8,000 spent on this selection was a big bargain.”

Carda said she thinks hindsight can is 20/20 on the board hiring the search firm.

“Personally, I don’t think they had much of a choice,” she said. “If they would have promoted Dr. Kindle, there would have been speculation about being an insider and not even expanding the search. I believe it was a fair search with the outside help.”

YSD board member Jim Fitzgerald said he thinks the process set up by Dakota Educational Consulting was “invaluable.”

“The search firm brought five great candidates to the table, and, at the end of the day, the school board had a couple hours of dialogue and received input from the three interview committees,” he said. “Dr. Kindle received high marks from all of the committees. I did not take the job of finding our next superintendent lightly, and with the great candidates we had, it was a hard decision.”

Kindle said he appreciates the selection process that the board used, as well as the members who served on the interview teams.

“I want to thank everybody who has offered their support to me during the search process and since being selected as the superintendent of YSD,” he said.

Greeneway said she strongly feels that the best candidate was selected to serve YSD going forward.

“We had a lot of really good discussions in regards to all of the candidates,” she said. “Every candidate brought some strong features that we felt would have been of great benefit to YSD. It wasn’t an easy decision, but, after a lot of discussion, we determined this was the avenue we were going to take and felt Dr. Kindle was the best candidate.”

Fitzgerald noted that Kindle has served YSD well and, even though he doesn’t have any superintendent experience, he has the tools and skill set to move the district forward.

“The board felt as if Kindle genuinely cares about the kids, which was evident in his interview,” he said. “I feel it was important to go through this process so that the school, community and parents all had input. I appreciated all who contacted me and voiced their opinions on the search.”

Fitzgerald added that the board will do everything they can to help Kindle be successful.

“I also believe that he has big shoes to fill as Dr. Gertsema retires,” he said.

Kindle said he won’t back out of the challenges that face the district going forward.

“I know we have challenges ahead of us and, after spending 22 years within YSD, I am not ready to walk away,” he said. “I am dedicated to working with our community, staff, parents, and school board in finding solutions for balancing our budget and implementing a plan to enhance financial stability.”

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