While he collects his $189,000 parachute, after resigning in the face of termination for cause, ousted Brookings School Superintendent Klint Willert has apparently landed in Pipestone, Minnesota as their interim Superintendent, after a 5-2 vote by the Pipestone School District.
Not without some controversy, but the Pipestone School Board chair managed to push it through, providing the Brookings former supt. a salary not to exceed $149,500 to go with his $189,000 that he’s pocketing after his demanded resignation from the Brookings School District.
But the real comedy in this episode comes with Willert’s explanation of that whole Brookings School District “elephant in the room” thing, as he explained it to the Pipestone school employees:
“I’m super excited to be here,” Willert told the PAS employees.
He then addressed what he called “the elephant in the room,” which was his resignation as superintendent of the Brookings School District after eight years with the district. Addressing news reports that he was given the option to resign or be terminated after a poor review, Willert said he received what was “arguably the best performance evaluation” of his entire career in July of 2022.
“I’m so proud of it, I’m willing to share it with anybody,” he said. “I’m so proud of it because we’ve been doing some really incredible things where I’m at in Brookings and we continue to do so.”
He said the school board’s goals changed, however, after that 2022 evaluation.
“As a result of that, six months after I had received this stellar evaluational, I got the tap on the shoulder saying, ‘Yeah, let’s think differently,” Willert said.
He then shifted his attention to his background and his upcoming time with PAS.
Read the entire story here as reported in the Pipestone Star.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the impending loss of school accreditation due to not paying attention as well as other offenses as “the tap on the shoulder.”
While Willert claims to be willing to share it with anybody, the problem with that his side of the tale is that the Brookings School District posted the documents involved on-line as exhibits, and they are ALSO sharing with anybody as well. How did the attorney for the Brookings School District describe it in March of this year…..?
Willert Ultimatum by Pat Powers
…contract communications lacking clarity… ..Communication around the strategic Planning Timeline was not shared with all board members… …incorrect or incomplete documents at board meetings and in executive sessions… …Superintendent goals lacking substance… …lack of follow-up… ..working relationship between city and school not at a place we should expect in Brookings… …(Don’t even get the board started on his competency based education debacle)… ..inaccurate COVID-19 plan.. …Superintendent said he’d start at least 6 committees that were never formed… …Supt displayed apathy and unavailability regarding a donation request from a major donor… ..leadership for Early Childhood vision is lacking… …The Dist claimed he used contracts he was told not to.. AND the kicker to the 3/8 demand for resignation was that the board stated they’d lost “faith and trust” in his ability to lead the District.
And that was all before they received notice that the accreditation for the Brookings School District had been placed on probation by the State of South Dakota. In the March 14, 2023 letter to Willert’s attorney, they flat out note that the threat of the loss of accreditation was “directly attributable to your client’s lack of supervision and constitutes conduct that is seriously prejudicial to the District and amounts to neglect of duty. The neglect of duty specifically…is grounds for termination for cause.“
So, the Brookings School District calls it “neglect of duty” and “grounds for termination by cause,” and the former Superintendent calls it a “tap on the shoulder.”
That might be one way to put it.
Makes a person wonder if the Pipestone Area School Board did its due diligence when they hired him.
Seeing that he is an interim, it tells me PA had a late resignation, and they need a warm body to manage things while it does a more thorough search.
Willert was superintendent for the nearby Marshall Public School district for many years before Brookings. Not aware of any issues like this during that time. Pipestone and Marshall are in fairly close proximity and there was likely some familiarity there. Just a guess.
As an outsider, something about this stinks. I don’t know what happened, but no one seems to suggest he did a poor job for 6/7 of the 8 years. The board listed a lot of problems, but were these concerns really raised for the first time in 2022/23? The guy is attacked for getting his own personal attorney? Sure, a lot of this seems legit, but not really. To be fair, his explanation is lacking too.
“no one seems to suggest he did a poor job for 6/7 of the 8 years”. Well, according to you as an outsider. There are those who would beg to differ.
He may have, I really don’t know. Looking at this letter, I see a reference or two to 2020 or 2021, suggesting “last” contact or communication, as if problems arose after that. 8 years means this guy was hired in 2015? No reference to performance 2015-2021? Something happened between 2020 and 2022. If it’s accreditation, were things not being filed ’15-’21? Was everything up to date until 2020? What changed around 2020? Not the super. Did the school district lose key staff? [I’m redacting this.. no evidence of it, and not really proper to even ask. – PP] It seems like such a dramatic shift to go to this laundry list and say “walk or we’ll fire you.”