Board hires Mueller as interim superintendent

The Havre School Board of Trustees met Tuesday and chose Craig Mueller as the new interim superintendent for the upcoming school year.

Mueller will serve a one-year term.

In a few months, the board will see if his being in the position is working well, then will decide where they'd like to go from there.  

Board member Curtis Smeby asked Mueller about his successes and challenges in the Havre district.

Mueller said he thinks the work that teachers put into the curriculum has been beneficial.

He said a challenge he faced was in his last year as principal at the high school and transferring into the assistant superintendent role.

"That was a great challenge for me to learn a new job, to learn working in a new building, to learn many facets of the district that I wasn't familiar with just as the high school principal," he said.

Board member Ed Hill thanked Mueller for submitting his application.

"That's quite a list of accomplishments and I didn't realize over the last - it's amazing when you look back over your record of all the training you got here and there it really starts compiling up," he said. 

He said one of things that caught his eye on Mueller's resume was his work with curriculum review.

Hill also asked him about his thoughts on school re-opening in the fall.

Mueller said a re-opening planning team was formed in June consisting of 25 teachers, administrative staff, specialists and board of trustees members who were interested in being part of that team.

"We've conducted three meetings so far and we are working toward developing a school re-opening plan. That is the ultimate goal," he said. "Today, we released surveys for our community, our parents, our students to get their thoughts on what re-opening could potentially look like in the fall."

"In my opinion, I definitely would like to see us back in a traditional setting as long as we are aligned with the CDC guidelines, but also our state and local guidelines to make sure we're in line with what Hill County expects for us," he added. 

  People who are interested in taking the survey can visit https://www.blueponyk12.com/Domain/198 .

Parent, student and community surveys are is available.

  Surveys need to be completed by Wednesday, July 8.

Mueller has been assistant superintendent of Havre Public Schools for the past four years.

Superintendent Andy Carlson retired from Havre Public Schools and his career in education Tuesday. He was the Havre superintendent for 10 years and worked for the district for 21 years.

Board Chair Aileen Couch said after the meeting that Mueller was the district employee who showed interest in the position.

The next regular board meeting will be Tuesday, July 14, at 6:30 p.m at Havre Middle School.