Clockwise from bottom left are Georgia Tenney, Superintendent Steve Clason, Board President Jorrell Tucker, Matt Long, Eric Trump and Carrie Hoffman.

LARWILL — The Whitko School Corporation School Board met briefly Friday, April 20, with the purpose of beginning its search for a new superintendent to replace Steve Clason, who is retiring effective June 30.

The board, convening in a room at Whitko Middle School, decided to begin looking for a candidate to fill the role in the short term while also looking for a permanent superintendent.

“My recommendation as we move forward is that we go ahead and hire an interim superintendent,” said Board President Jorell Tucker. “Then, we’d start the formal process of posting the job.”

Tucker, along with Clason, explained that hiring an interim superintendent would give the board the breathing room to be thorough in finding Clason’s replacement.

According to Clason, a group called Administrator Assistance from Brookston specializes in placing retired and former administrators into such roles in order to ensure the duties of the corporation’s top administrator continue being completed.

“There are people who don’t want a long-term commitment, but may come in and say ‘I’ll be your superintendent, I’ll keep the doors open and keep things running, but I really don’t want a five-day, eight hours a day job,’” Clason said. “They make sure documents are signed.”

In searching for the full-time superintendent, Tucker will reach out to a group called the University Superintendent Search Team. This group is a collaboration between Ball State, Purdue, Indiana State and Indiana universities that assist Indiana school boards in finding a new superintendent.

“One person from each university is assigned to the team and their role is to provide assistance to school corporations for finding superintendents,” Clason said. “That’s part of their job description.”

The board voted unanimously to engage in both searches and gave Tucker the approval to initiate those searches. The board did not have an estimate on how long it would take to find a new full-time superintendent.