Carson City School Board votes unanimously to offer superintendent position to Andrew Feuling
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Wed, 04/06/2022 - 9:20pm
The discussion held at the special meeting Wednesday evening by the Carson City School Board Trustees determined that the school board would offer the position to runner up candidate Andrew Feuling in regards to the next Carson City School District Superintendent.
After offering Dr. John Goldhart the position of superintendent, Dr. Goldhardt refused the offer of employment due to failed contract negotiations.
The meeting on Wednesday was held to determine whether or not the board should reopen the search for a superintendent or to offer the position to the second candidate, Andrew Feuling.
Much discussion was held both by the trustees as well as from the community.
“We get a mulligan for making a major mistake,” said Trustee Don Carine. “We need to make AJ Feuling the next superintendent of this school district.”
Trustee Lupe Ramirez stated she wasn’t sure about hiring internally due to some community member’s requests for an outside candidate.
“Our community is asking for a change and we are here to listen to our community, and to give our students an opportunity to excel,” said Ramirez.
Vice President Laurel Crossman stated she was comfortable going forward with the internal candidates, especially because the administration is short staffed after the associate superintendent recently left.
“I have a concern with reopening (the search),” said Crossman. “I understand that people want change. But remember, anyone who steps in, including our internal candidates, will bring change.”
“I think we have a very qualified candidate that we can move forward with,” said President Richard Varner.
The board discussed whether or not to go forward with Feuling due to the fact that the third party search did not go smoothly, and concerns were brought up throughout the process regarding the process.
Varner went on to say that he believed if the search was opened it up again, the board would get the same candidates to review.
“The whole reason this thing blew up last time was because the process was flawed,” said Trustee Stacey Wilkie. “It makes me wonder if we did the best candidates.”
“We know there were concerns,” said Trustee Joe Cacioppo. “Not that the process was completely bad; I think it was equally confusing and messed up for every candidate. I don’t think it was quite that smooth.”
Trustee Crossman at a previous meeting had advocated for the board to revisit the search processes.
“You were comfortable enough with the process to go forward with (Dr. Goldhardt),” said Trustee Crossman. “But I don’t have the same vetting concerns with our internal candidates.”
Members agreed there had been a lot of support from the community as well as from district staff regarding the internal candidates, and that their backgrounds were not in question.
“I’m not concerned with the vetting of Mr. Feuling, and I wasn’t concerned with the vetting of Dr. Goldhardt,” said President Varner. “We know his references were checked.”
Dozens of community members, including employees of the school district, came to voice their opinions prior to the vote.
While some community members asked for members of the board to resign, many commended the board for their hard work.
Those who had been in favor of Dr. Goldhardt stated that the school board had broken open meeting laws by discussing Dr. Goldhardt's contract at the prior meeting, and advocated for the search to be reopened.
Discussions of Dr. Goldhardt's contract had been properly agendized.
Commenters who work for the district overwhelmingly voiced their support for Feuling's hiring.
Discussion and public comment ran for almost three hours prior to the final vote.
The Trustees voted unanimously to offer the superintendent position to Andrew Feuling.
