Bemidji School Board Establishes Goals for New Superintendent

A superintendent is a critical role for any school district, as managing an entire area of schools is a large task. It’s also important for the district’s school board to set clear goals for the superintendent, and to make sure those goals are being met.

This was the main point of discussion at Monday night’s Bemidji Area School Board meeting, as the board met with new superintendent Jeremy Olson to determine what they would be evaluating him on in the future.

Some focal points the school wanted to address included issues such as safety and enrollment rates, which can be easy to observe progress on, but there are some issues that were hard to quantify, such as mental health support among students and staff.

“We kinda know that we need it, but we’re not exactly sure what that looks like as far as metrics,” explained Bemidji Area Schools superintendent Jeremy Olson.

Ultimately, it’s up to the board as a collective to determine how well a superintendent is performing and to decide whether or not the board’s standards, that they have clearly defined in meetings like these, are fulfilled.

The school board was aided in this process by the Minnesota School Boards Association, which offers support to school boards across the state.