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“The board appreciates the engagement and input from staff, parents, and community members throughout the process,� the release continued, adding that “pending further discussion, a final decision may be made at the upcoming board meeting on Tuesday, May 27. The board remains committed to a thorough and thoughtful selection process.�

An agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, released Friday, indicates that the board may announce the new superintendent then.

Tuesday’s meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the high school library, 534 S. Elizabeth St. in Whitewater.

Karns is the principal at Todd Elementary in Beloit. Schneider is the superintendent for the TrueNorth Educational Cooperative 804 in Highland Park, Illinois.

Laurie Fiorenza, the third candidate who is no longer under consideration according to the school district, is the assistant superintendent for student learning for the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 in Oak Park, Illinois.

Fiorenza submitted her resignation to the Oak Park and River Forest High School District earlier this month, effective June 30, according to reports from the Chicago Tribune and the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest. According to the Chicago Tribune, an open records request yielded an undated resignation letter “with few details and no future plans.�

Fiorenza told an audience at a public meet and greet with the candidates in Whitewater on Thursday that she and District 200 Superintendent Greg Johnson “are on good terms� as she departs.

“I did not get fired. I am not leaving before I get fired. I am on very good standing,� Fiorenza said.

Fiorenza is a resident of Plainfield, Illinois, and said she is ready to move from Plainfield regardless of what happens. She applied to two jobs. The other one she did not tell the audience at the meet and greet. She grew up in Roscoe, Illinois, a suburb of Rockford. Plainfield is about 36 miles from Oak Park.

As the new superintendent emerges from the selection process into negotiations, there will be just over a month before current Superintendent Caroline Pate-Hefty leaves her position.

Pate-Hefty is leaving the district on June 30 to take the same role in the Manheim Township School District in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in southeastern Pennsylvania.

“We want to thank Dr. Pate-Hefty for her outstanding work and leadership over the past five years,� then-Board President Jennifer Kienbaum wrote in a statement. “In that time, our district has managed the effects of a global pandemic and kept the focus on providing a truly exceptional educational experience to our students. We wish Dr. Pate-Hefty the very best as she takes this next step in her career in educational leadership.�

The board selected three finalists out of 31 applicants. It conducted seven first-round interviews. The chosen candidate could start as early as July 1.

School resource officer

At its May 20 meeting, the Whitewater Common Council voted to send a request to the district to extend the current school resource officer agreement. Absent from the agenda was any reference to that request

The council voted to not respond directly to the request for proposal the district sent, which was criticized by Council President Patrick Singer, who said it did not read like a traditional RFP, but more like a “fill-in-the-blank contract� and that there is “no opportunity to say, ‘Here’s our proposal.’ Just fill your names in.�

Police Chief Dan Meyer told the council that he felt that there is genuine support from both city officials and the school board to keep Whitewater as the agency to have the resource officer in the schools. However, he also referred to the RFP process as a “mandate� by the district to the city.

“The problem for me is that it ignores the efforts that we are making collectively to work through it. I think it’s important we do that in collaboration with whoever the new superintendent is. That relationship is really important because clearly there are concerns, and just signing this RFP doesn’t allow us to work through that and move forward,� Meyer said.

With the approved police and fire referendum in the city, the goal is to have a second officer in schools if the district and the city can come to an agreement.