EDWARDSBURG — The Edwardsburg School Board has elected to go forward with a second-round interview for the district’s next superintendent.

Jim Knoll, the current assistant superintendent, has been invited to interview for a second time for the position of superintendent of Edwardsburg Public Schools. The interview will take place at 6 p.m. tonight at the Edwardsburg Administration Building in the boardroom. His first-round interview took place on Tuesday night.

“After the conclusion of the interview, which in my opinion excellent questions were asked not only from the board members but also submitted questions from the audience, the board invited Jim Knoll to return this Thursday,” said Birdella Holdread, the president of the Edwardsburg School Board.

The board is interviewing for the position after current superintendent Sherman Ostrander announced in December that he would be retiring at the end school year. Last month, the school board began the process of searching for his replacement.

The first interview also took place in the boardroom of the Edwardsburg Administration Building. In total, 28 community members were in attendance, along with the board, the candidate and Gary Rider of the Michigan Leadership Institute, who is helping facilitate the superintendent hiring process.

At the first interview, Knoll was asked somewhat generic questions, with little back-and-forth between Knoll and the board.

“What we did was we replicated that same kind of interview format that we’d used if this were a full, open search with maybe six first-round candidates,” Rider said. “We replicated that and it’s very dry — like eating cardboard. It’s just strictly questions from the board and answers from the candidate. No dialogue. No discussion.”

During the second interview, Rider says there will be much more of a conversation between Knoll and the board. Since the first interview, board members have been sending Rider more in-depth, follow-up questions that they hope to ask Knoll.

“The second-round interview is intended to be much more dialogue and discussion,” he said. “It’s intended to be a conversation. That’s what Thursday will be a conversation between the board and the candidate on any kind of topic they want. That candidate is going to ask follow-ups. They can piggyback on things that other people have said. It’s just kind of a free-for-all discussion about their preparation for the superintendency.”

Knoll’s first interview was scheduled after the school board met Wednesday, March 21 to view and deliberate about applicants. There was only one applicant for the position.

Knoll has worked at Edwardsburg Public Schools for the past three school years. From 2015-2017 he was the principal of Edwardsburg middle school and, for the past school year, he has been the assistant superintendent.

Knoll received his first bachelor’s degree from Alma College in business administration in 1987. His post-collegiate career began at National-Standard Company as production supervisor and then as a plant manager.

In order to stay in the Michiana area and start a family, Knoll decided to return to school in order to receive his degree in education from Indiana University South Bend. He worked as a teacher in the Niles Community Schools District before becoming the assistant principal at Edwardsburg High School in 2002. Then, starting in 2004, he spent the next nine years of his education career in the NCS as an assistant principal and principal in several district schools.

Starting in 2013, he was a School Risk Manager for the Arizona Group, an insurance group located in Arizona, and returned to EPS in 2015.

At the conclusion of Knoll’s interview tonight, the board intends to vote on whether or not to hire him as the next superintendent. All discussions and decisions regarding the next superintendent must be done publically, meaning community members and the media may be present.

“Deliberations need to be in open session in Michigan,” Rider said. “That’s why I tell the board, whether it takes us five minutes or five hours, let’s spend all the time we need to discuss the candidate, see, in the opinion of the board, if he’s the right fit for the profile and do it that night. That way, no one can criticise the process for having been done incorrectly or inappropriately.”

The board and Rider also encourage community members to be a part of the process.

“We hope parents, members of the community, students and staff will attend,” Holdread said. “It is very important for the board to have input during this process. We are assessing the candidate alongside a profile developed utilizing input from staff, students, parents and the community. We hope that everyone who attends will take advantage of the opportunity to provide the board with written feedback regarding their view of the strengths and/or concerns of the candidate at the end of the interview.”