By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Dowagiac Board of Education Monday night hired Marcy A. Hendress of Edwardsburg from 58 applicants to succeed Sister Lakes Elementary School Principal David Strlekar.
Strlekar is retiring after 39 years with the district. The Minnesota native came in 1966, "fell in love with Dowagiac" and stayed well beyond the one year he intended.
Interview committee members Dawn Conner, Janet Jerdon, Kathy Karsten, Kay Tularak, Kelli Sylvester, Judy Swisher, Gracie Chavez and Peg Stowers narrowed the field to seven candidates for interviews May 4-5.
Two finalists were brought back May 10 for a second round of interviews with Superintendent Larry Crandall and the assistant superintendents, Stowers and Hal Davis.
Hendress, a May 1989 Southwestern Michigan College graduate, has been teaching sixth and seventh grades for Penn-Harris-Madison at Discovery Middle School in Granger, Ind., since August 2001.
Before that she taught third grade at Horizon Elementary School in Granger from June 1995 to August 2001, and first, second and third grades at Elm Road Elementary School in Mishawaka, Ind., from November 1991 to June 1995.
Hendress earned a bachelor's degree in December 1991 from Indiana University South Bend and her master's degree in elementary education in May 1997.
She completed her administrative certification at IUSB in June 2003, as well as the P-H-M Leadership Academy.
The past two summers Hendress served as assistant principal and principal of the summer extended learning program for more than 400 students at Schmucker Middle School in Mishawaka.
In another area, the board appointed Jane Laing, with Bill Lawrence as alternate, to vote for it June 6 for Lewis Cass Intermediate School District candidates Ann Simmons of Cassopolis, Gerald Hart of Cassopolis and Pat Adams of Edwardsburg.
Terms are for six years except Simmons, the retired county clerk, is completing the term through 2009 started by Don Judd, who died in March. The other two incumbents will be serving terms through 2011 on the five-member board.