School Board Regroups After Denying Superintendent Contract Extension

The Plymouth-Canton Community School Board is expected to take preliminary action at its next meeting, on Oct. 12, on finding a new leader for the district.

The board voted Sept. 28 not to renew the contract of  Superintendent Craig Fiegel, who is in his final year of a three-year contract. The vote was 4-3. Board members John Jackson, Dianne Gonzalez, Adrienne Davis and Treaurer Judy Mardigian voted against the renewal; Board President Steven Sneideman, Vice President Barry Simescu and Secretary Nancy Eggenberger voted for it.

Gonzalez said that although some preliminary decisions are likely to be made at next week's meeting, she's not sure if they will hire someone new right away.

"More likely, we'll look at finding an interim superintendent and give the community some time to heal," she said on Friday.

Close to 20 community members spoke at the meeting, most urging the board to renew Fiegel's contract and citing the need for continuity in leadership. According to board member John Jackson, Fiegel is the district's fourth superintendent since July of 1994.

Board member Nancy Eggenberger pointed to this fact as one of the reasons she wanted to renew Fiegel's contract.

"If you're an administrator applying for jobs, would you want to apply to a district that has a history of turnover like this?" she said during the meeting. "We want people to realize that we are the place to come because we support and work with our superintendents."

Many of the residents pointed to the positive things Fiegel accomplished during the past two years, including balancing the budget, increasing the hiring of minority faculty and handling the swine flu scare much more conservatively than other districts. While some surrounding districts closed for an entire week, Plymouth-Canton only closed for one day.

When asked to comment on the issues the school district has had with Fiegel, board member Jackson replied: "You have to trust us as a board. We know things that you don't know, and while we can't say those things to the public, you need to trust that we are making the right decision."

Plymouth resident Elizabeth Carlson, who has had three children graduate from Plymouth-Canton Schools and one child still in high school, says she is disappointed with how the school board handled the issue.

"If they have a problem with an administrator, they should tell the community why they do," Carlson said on Monday. "I was very disappointed that there was so much support of Dr. Fiegel and they didn't take any of it into consideration."

Fiegel, who had interviewed for the superintendent position at Walled Lake Consolidated Schools before the meeting and again the day after, said Monday he's not sure he's still in the running for the position.

"I haven't heard anything yet, and I know they were on a fast track to get someone hired," he said. "The events that happened last week might not have helped my chances."

Fiegel interviewed with Walled Lake in preparation for the possibility of not getting his contract renewed.

"I knew there was discontent on the board and I would have preferred that they didn't vote that day," he said.

The board did not have to vote on the renewal until 90 days before the expiration of Fiegel's contract at the end of the school year.

The board members who voted against the contract renewal alluded to the fact that Fiegel did not collaborate with the board on major decisions, but Fiegel argues that he always tried to discuss things with the board.

"I think all the decisions we made have been a result of several people collaborating," he said.

But he did say he might have made some mistakes.

"I've reflected on what I've done, and I would do some things differently probably," he said. "Did I listen enough? One of the things I tried to do when I first started was create a positive culture, including in the board. I tried to influence how they operated, but maybe I didn't do that as well as I could have, strategically."

Gonzalez, who was the only board member to vote against Fiegel's hiring in 2008, said she thought his experience at a small district in Illinois was not a good match for the Plymouth-Canton district, which is the third largest in Michigan and has more than 19,000 students.

"At the time, we were looking at his background in a smaller district as a positive thing because we liked the idea of someone who was used to filling many roles, including chief financial officer," Gonzalez said on Friday. "But that ended up turning against us because I don't think he knew how to rely on and tease out the expertise of his staff members, who are all experts in their own arenas."

Fiegel said he will be looking for jobs in other districts and would be willing to relocate to different states.

But for now, he said, he has a district to run.

"I want to leave the district a better place than I found it and position it to be successful after I leave," he said. "And I'm sure it will be."