Addison Community Schools begins new superintendent search

Brad Heineman, The Daily Telegram
·4 min read

ADDISON — The Addison Community Schools Board of Education is getting ready to face some all-too-familiar days ahead as the district prepares to engage in another superintendent search process.

Current Superintendent Dan Bauer, hired in September 2023 and on the job officially by Oct. 1, announced March 22 he is resigning, effective June 30. He said he plans to spend time with his daughter and grandchildren in northern Michigan after his son-in-law's very unexpected death.

Addison Community Schools Superintendent Dan Bauer gives his administrative report at the Dec. 18 board of education meeting. Less than six months after accepting the job of superintendent, Bauer has announced he is resigning at the end of the school year.
Addison Community Schools Superintendent Dan Bauer gives his administrative report at the Dec. 18 board of education meeting. Less than six months after accepting the job of superintendent, Bauer has announced he is resigning at the end of the school year.

Addison’s school board met Wednesday evening in a special session to kick off what will be the district’s fourth superintendent search since 2021-22 when it hired Daniel Patterson to succeed the retiring Steve Guerra. The board voted 5-2 to hire the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI) to manage the current search.

Patterson, hired in March 2022, departed after about one year on the job. His resignation was followed by an immediate search for an interim superintendent last year. That process landed Julie Helber, who worked with the district from July 25 until Bauer was hired.

Helber and Bauer, along with other candidates for both the interim position and the full-time role, were identified for the district by the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) and consultant Rodney Green, who also worked with Addison in hiring Patterson.

The MASB was once again in Addison for Wednesday’s special meeting, presenting its services to the school board to conduct the upcoming superintendent search. Jay Bennett represented MASB at Wednesday’s meeting.

Also pitching their consulting services to the board was the MLI and consultant Randy Liepa, who is currently working with Onsted Community Schools on its superintendent search to find the retiring Steve Head’s successor.

After fielding presentations from Liepa and Bennett, the board discussed its options for hiring either consulting firm. A general consensus from the board was that after two full-time superintendent searches conducted with the MASB, Addison is back to where it started when Guerra announced his retirement.

“Significant” funds have been spent with the MASB over the last couple of years, board member Thomas Arnold said. In fact, completing his own math, Arnold informed the board that with its approval Wednesday of working with MLI on the superintendent search, Addison schools will have spent $23,376.80 on superintendent consultants since hiring Patterson. The services agreement with MLI comes to $6,200.

“I just want to see this school get better, honestly,” Arnold said. “It’s all I care about at this point.”

Arnold and trustee Josh Perry both voted “no” to working with MLI. Arnold’s reasoning was that he felt the district should seek guidance from the MASB on if it can get a refunded superintendent search or a completely free search since Bauer — who was discovered through MASB’s most recent search — hadn’t even worked with the district for an entire year.

“Any representative would have done the same,” Arnold said when advocating about the board approaching MASB to seek a refunded superintendent search. “...I think that our school needs to save money anywhere that it can.”

Perry, also stressing the need for the district to save funds, suggested the board reach out to previous superintendent candidates who were considering openings. Most notably, he suggested the board check in with Thomas Durbin who was a finalist for Addison’s superintendent behind Bauer. Durbin recently accepted a new role as principal at Hudson Area Middle/High School. When he applied for Addison’s superintendence, Durbin was head of school at Lenawee Christian School in Adrian.

Dan Bauer
Dan Bauer

Perry also suggested the district check in with Bob Behnke’s interest in working with Addison on somewhat of an interim leadership basis. Behnke, former Adrian Public Schools superintendent, was recently hired by Addison as an instructional consultant.

“Bob has a wealth of information and leadership experience that could be beneficial to our staff and board during the transition process,” Bauer said when he announced his resignation.

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Board Vice President Jennifer Frost and Secretary Kim Ford said the board does not have the ability to take on a superintendent search on its own.

“Based on the (last superintendent) pool that we had, (Durbin) was our No. 2 (candidate behind Bauer). We are at a different place and time,” Ford said, adding that survey responses from staff and community members said Addison needs a superintendent with prior experience, which Bauer had.

Earlier in Wednesday’s special meeting, the board unanimously approved Bauer’s letter of resignation, though a handful of the board members, including trustees Lauren Bailey and Scott Williams, appeared apprehensive to OK the resignation.

Bauer said he will dedicate his remaining time at Addison "to the students, staff and community of Addison and assist the board with the search process and transition with the new superintendent.”

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: www.twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Addison Community Schools starts new superintendent search