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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

COUNTY SCHOOLS

Superintendent search down to one candidate

Tom Klein
Posted 3/27/14

REGIONAL – Steven Sallee, superintendent of the Southland Public School District and LeRoy-Ostrander Public Schools, emerged as the lead candidate to serve as the new superintendent for the St. …

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COUNTY SCHOOLS

Superintendent search down to one candidate

Posted

REGIONAL – Steven Sallee, superintendent of the Southland Public School District and LeRoy-Ostrander Public Schools, emerged as the lead candidate to serve as the new superintendent for the St. Louis County School District.

Sallee and another finalist — Peter Haapala, superintendent of the Carlton School District — were both interviewed by the board on Monday after the board conducted initial interviews with five candidates for the slot.

School Board Chairman Robert Larson said board members are considering a community visit and will seek more information about Sallee before proceeding with contract negotiations with the candidate.

The board initiated its search for a new superintendent after current Superintendent Teresa Knife Chief told the board in November that she would not be seeking a renewal of her contract. Knife Chief had been hired in March 2011 to replace Superintendent Charles Rick by a unanimous vote of the board.

Sallee’s experience as a shared superintendent at two school districts likely appealed to the board members as did his ability to rebuild the financial reserves at both districts.

At Southland, he increased the unreserved fund balance from $411,774 to over $2.7 million. The unreserved fund balance at LeRoy-Ostrander grew from $101,634 to $1.45 million under Sallee’s leadership. He received the Minnesota Department of Education’s finance award in both districts.

“School finance is a struggle for most districts, but we’ve been able to increase the fund balance in both districts by being proactive with reductions,” Sallee said. “Declining enrollment has played a big part of those struggles and I believe we’ve done a good job in adjusting accordingly.”

Sallee also helped implement an iPad initiative and interactive television classes in both school districts to expand learning opportunities for students. “I believe we’ve made great strides in moving forward to provide excellent opportunities for kids,” he said.

Sallee was attracted to the superintendent vacancy at St. Louis County School District for a variety of reasons. His wife, Shirley, and he both have family in the area and are interested in moving closer to them. He also wanted to find a great school district for his nine-year-old daughter, Riley, to attend.

“When I saw that St. Louis County School District had an opening, I felt like my skill set would be a good match for the unique structure of the district,” Sallee noted. “As I looked into the district further, I became very impressed with the quality of education and great opportunities for kids.”

Located in southeast Minnesota, the Southland School District has an enrollment of 480 students and serves the communities of Adams, Dexter, Elkton, Johnsburg, Rose Creek, Taopi and the surrounding rural area.

The LeRoy-Ostrander School District is near Southland and has an enrollment of 305 students.

Sallee has been superintendent at Southland Public Schools since 2008 and previously served as assistant superintendent, high school principal and athletic director at the LeRoy-Ostrander district.

He taught physical education at Ellsworth, Wis., and was the district specialist in adaptive physical education there from 1997-2005.

Sallee has a bachelor of science degree in physical education from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from Minnesota State University in Mankato. He also has a specialist degree with a major in educational administration and obtained his superintendent’s license from Mankato State in May 2007.

In his resumé, Sallee describes himself as “deeply committed to education excellence for students and staff” and said he communicates “warmly and honestly,” forging relationships built on trust.

Sandy Gundlach, of the Minnesota School Boards Association, who has been assisting the district with its search for a new superintendent, said the district attracted “some very strong candidates” for the position. She also complimented the board members for being very engaged in the process.

Gundlach assisted the board in trimming the pool of candidates to five initial finalists, developing questions to ask candidates, and checking references and the backgrounds of the candidates.