February 24, 2020 – West Bend, WI – The job posting for a superintendent in the West Bend School District has been posted. The opening follows an announcement that Superintendent Don Kirkegaard is returning to South Dakota to take a job in his previous school district.
The timeline for receiving applications is 11:30 a.m. on March 12, 2020. A new superintendent is expected to be announced by April 27, 2020 with a start date of July 1, 2020. The posting by the consulting firm in Omaha, NE initially posted the opening February 13, 2020.
The West Bend School District will now have had five superintendents over the last four years. Kirkegaard was hired after former Superintendent Erik Olson submitted his resignation December 14, 2017. Olsen was hired June 2016. The School Board approved a two-year contract with Olson at a salary of $155,000. In 2017 that contract was extended another two years. The payout to Olson was about $300,000.
Prior to Olson, Ted Neitzke served as superintendent from 2011 – June 2016 when he resigned and Laura Jackson served as interim superintendent after Olson left and prior to Kirkegaard.