School board prepares for search

The Bigfork School District board will determine in a workshop next week how to go about the search for a new superintendent.

Current superintendent Russ Kinzer submitted a letter to the board Jan. 14 declaring his intent to retire June 30 and the board approved his resignation during Wednesday's meeting as a part of the consent agenda.

Board members have options that include using the services of the Montana School Boards Association to run the search, running it themselves or some combination of the two.

The board heard from a representative of MTSBA at their January meeting Wednesday and agreed to take time to consider what action to take. MTSBA estimates that from its start time it would take approximately 10 weeks for the district to secure a new superintendent.

Kinzer, who has been in education for 36 years including a little more than a decade in Bigfork, said he has been thinking about retiring for a while as he has a lot of personal goals he'd like to fulfill, including spending more time with his out-of-state family.

Read more about the board meeting in the Jan. 28 edition of the Bigfork Eagle.