EDWARDSBURG — At Monday night’s Edwardsburg Board of Education Meeting, Superintendent Elect Jim Knoll took his seat at the center table with the board members for the first time since he began to transition into the superintendent position.

“That perspective is a little different, but it felt comfortable,” Knoll said. “We have a great board. Again, it’s the trust and the family and the relationship with the people here in the district.”

He will officially have a center seat at the board starting on July 1, when the new academic calendar begins. He is, of course, taking over for Sherman Ostrander who was the district’s superintendent for more than 20 years.

Ever since Knoll was awarded the position in late March, Ostrander has been training him to be superintendent.

“As he is moving his office and finding different things that he’s dealt with over the years, we are going over those,” Knoll said. “The experience he has that he’s shared with me has been amazing and wonderful. He will be available to me and the district for a period of time, too.”

According to Knoll, this will be on both an official and unofficial basis. At first, he will consult Knoll on any issue that might occur, but Knoll is also confident that he can ask Ostrander questions years down the road.

“Three years from now, I think if I pick up the phone and I have a question I think Mr. Ostrander would do that for me, just because of our relationship, and because he cares about the district so much,” he said.

At some point in the near future, Knoll intends to put together a strategic plan. While putting that together, he will want input from all the members of the Edwardsburg Public Schools community, such as he students, stakeholders, parents and our community.

Part of the district’s strategic plan will be facility upkeep. He and the community just need to figure out what buildings and areas on the Edwardsburg campus need help the most.

“Every year, you have 2,700 students go through your buildings, so there’s room renovations and there’s furniture [that needs to be replaced],” Knoll said. “In 2011, when we had big [budget cuts], a lot of that stuff was put off and pushed back because of the amount of funding that was not available at that time. That has built up on us a little bit, like most districts in Michigan. You put something off, just like you do in your home if you don’t have the financing.”

This year, the state has increased its budget per pupil by $240, which is the largest budget increase in Michigan K-12 schools since 2007, according to a February article from the Detroit Free Press.

“We just finished our negotiations with the teachers and they deserved a share of that and got a share,” Knoll said. “The rest of that goes to catching up. That’s what’s happening.”

Knoll is clear that he does not want to overhaul how Edwardsburg Public Schools has been run over the past two decades.

“I think the worst thing for me to do, in a district like this that’s running really well, would be for me to come in and make a bunch of changes and do a bunch of different things until I’m sure it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “There are certain things I feel comfortable with and I understand the culture here. I understand the standards. I’m not going to change those.”

Knoll said his most important goals are to maintain the student count and to make sure that the students and teachers have the supplies they need and are in the right environment to be successful.

“Ultimately, students, teachers, the board, the administration work together to make this a place that is safe, secure and where students can get the best learning that they can,” he said. “That’s what it’s about.”