Principal supported in bid for top job

Principal supported in bid for top job

By MARTINE MICKIEWICZ
NEWS STAFF REPORTER

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP

BELLEVILLE — The only “in-house” candidate for the Van Buren school superintendent’s job has received a strong show of local support.

More than 100 residents of the school district attended Tuesday’s Van Buren Board of Education meeting to rally behind James Richendollar, principal of South Middle School.

Last week, only two board members said they considered Richendollar worthy of further consideration to succeed Elvin Peets, who has announced his resignation, effective at the end of June.

Richendollar is one of five finalists for the job, and the only one of the finalists without a doctorate.

Tuesday night’s crowd was large enough to force the board to move its meeting from the district’s administration building, where it usually meets, to nearby Belleville High School auditorium.

“You have chosen to be our conscience,” Belleville High School counselor Paul Druker told the board. “What I want is an agent to be responsive to this community and to myself. I don’t care what coursework the man has.”

Druker and others disagreed with board President Robert Fowler, who last week expressed concern over Richendollar’s lack of a doctorate.

South Middle School teacher Pat Richards took issue with Fowler’s comment that Richendollar would make a good superintendent at a smaller school district.

“It’s my understanding that the superintendents under further consideration (from the Yale and Armada school districts) supervise 100 teachers in one district and 82 in the other,” she said, noting that there are more than 80 teachers at Belleville High School. Richendollar was previously a principal at the high school.

Tuesday wasn’t the first time that local residents have rallied in support of Richendollar. In April, backers presented the board with petitions bearing 982 names endorsing him for superintendent.

For his part, Richendollar said he was “not positive” that he had received fair consideration from board members.

“I’m very proud and embarrassed,” he said during a break at the meeting. “There are strong emotions, but perhaps some are speaking a little hard of board members.

“I’m not sure of (my) treatment. I don’t know all the strategies involved in the selection process,” Richendollar said. He added, however, that he was disappointed that only two board members recommended him for further consideration as superintendent.

Board members listened for more than 35 minutes to speakers, but refused to discuss Richendollar’s or any candidate’s qualifications. Fowler did say, however, that a decision probably will not be reached before the June 11 millage election.

Also on Tuesday, board members voted 4-2 to postpone selecting a Savage Elementary School principal after board member Sherry Frazier said she learned that some candidates had been informed that they would not be considered further for the position.

Frazier said she learned prior to the meeting that personnel director Raymond Kohr had told some of the nine candidates “that they did not have the job.”

Of the nine candidates interviewed by the personnel committee, seven are in-district candidates and two are from outside the district. The new principal will replace Clyde Stapleton, who is retiring after heading Savage since it was opened about 10 years ago.