by Jim Boyle
Editor
The Elk River Area School Board has selected a former St. Cloud superintendent to lead District 728 for the coming school year.
Bruce Watkins was the unanimous choice July 29 after interviewing what board members described as three really good candidates.
Before making a decision, they wrestled with who, of the two best, most experienced candidates – Watkins and former Anoka-Hennepin School District Superintendent Denny Carlson — should be their pick.
Acknow-ledging that the School Board will have at least three new members and as many as four new members by January, they put their full support behind Watkins.
“If we’re looking for someone to nurture a new board, I think Bruce would nurture a new board very well,” Board Director Sue Farber said. “I liked his comments on being collaborative and on community. It’s like he read our playbook.”
District 728 administrators and Watkins entered into negotiations on the afternoon of July 29, and the School Board will be asked to approve a contract that extends to June 30, 2017, at its regular meeting on Aug. 8 at the District 728 offices (Elk River City Hall, its normal space for business meetings, will be tied up as voting officials prepare for the Aug. 9 primaries and special District 728 election).
School Board Chairwoman Holly Thompson called Watkins after the vote to extend an offer to him.
“I drove away thinking I really felt a connection with the board and your sense of pride and community,” Watkins said in a call placed on speaker phone. “I would be very anxious to be part of that next school year.”
Watkins could begin as early as Aug. 9.
Watkins served as the St. Cloud superintendent of schools from 2004 through 2008 and again from 2010 through 2013. Over the last couple of years, he’s been working in the St. Paul area, serving as executive director of the Nova Classical Academy in 2014-2015 and last year working on an extensive teacher evaluation project for the St. Paul Conservatory.
Watkins started his educational career, which spans more than four decades, in Proctor, where he was a teacher and principal. He served as an assistant superintendent in the Duluth School District, as well.
After the interim process is complete, District 728 School Board members and consultant School Exec Connect will work with district members and the community at large in an extensive process to place a permanent superintendent of schools.
Thompson said she expects the process to stretch into 2017, so board members installed in January can be part of the decision-making process.
Watkins complimented the board on its decision to wait until the board stabilizes.
“For every superintendent, the best board they work with is the one that hired him or her,” Watkins said. “They’re all invested.”