Updated April 11 to include details from the state on the various pathways to becoming a superintendent.
The North Gem School District recently hired a new superintendent who does not have the necessary qualifications for the position.
But the state should be able to approve his position as superintendent through a replacement, according to Mike Keckler, a spokesman for the State Board of Education.
This news comes after a state commission. refused to consider Branden Durst's application for West Bonner School District Emergency Interim Administrator Certificate. Durst worked full-time at the school for four years and never earned her certification.
Kyler Miller, who will become North Gem's superintendent this summer, has four years of certified experience, and that's a key difference.
The state's alternative approval route (different from the emergency approval route pursued by Durst) would allow districts or charters to request temporary certification to allow teachers to become superintendents. In this case, teachers have three years to meet all qualifications and receive superintendent approval.
The path from teacher to superintendent rarely happens. According to state records, only one school district (Garden Valley) has applied for such a certificate in the past three school years. More common is the path from principal to superintendent, which Miller can qualify for this summer while awaiting completion of his degree.
Miller is currently a teacher in the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District and plans to pursue a master's degree in education this summer with the approval of her principal. It will be his second master's degree, as he already has one master's degree in history. According to Candie Massey, North Gem's business manager, he plans to apply for and complete his doctoral program afterward, earning his superintendent certification. Miller also has seven years of teaching experience.
Miller currently lacks the following qualifications required for nomination to Superintendent:
- PhD or similar education
- Administrative Internship
- Completion of post-master’s course for Superintendent of Education
“We are in a place where superintendents don’t grow on trees, and finding someone who is passionate about education and willing to move their family to a small town or commute an hour should be respected,” Massey wrote in an email to EdNews.
North Gem is headquartered in Bancroft, a small town in southeastern Idaho with approximately 390 residents. North Gem's current superintendent, Todd Shumway, will resign this summer to take a position at Brigham Young University in Hawaii.
Miller said he had no comment at this time.
Before Durst was denied, the state board had issued emergency temporary certificates to administrators three times since 2015. But Durst's hiring prompted state officials to review Idaho law because state board executive Matt Freeman does not hold an educator license. The director wrote September's Letter To the West Bonner staff.
The state board decided that under Idaho law, emergency certificates must be issued only to teachers, not administrators. Idaho Deputy Attorney General Jeffery Ventrella Also weigh itIt was agreed that the state board should not issue emergency certificates to superintendents.
dust stepped down In September, he became leader of West Bonner.
Last February, Durst filed the following notice with the state: I plan to sue The state board and IDE paid $1.25 million.
Durst previously ran for state superintendent of education but lost to current state superintendent Debbie Critchfield in the May 2022 primary. Durst is running for Ada County Commissioner in the May Republican primary.