The search for a new Buchanan superintendent has begun.
Superintendent Andrea van der Laan submitted her formal resignation letter to the Buchanan Board of Education Monday night.
Van der Laan, who has been the superintendent of Buchanan schools for the last seven years, said that the time feels right.
“I have a husband who is ready to travel, and I am taking caring of an elderly parent, and we’re at the end of a ton of projects, and so it is a good time for a transition,” van der Laan said. “It all is just coming together at one time.”
In her retirement, van der Laan says she and her husband plan to check out many national parks, including Yellowstone and Glacier, and visit family on the west coast.

During her tenure in Buchanan, van der Laan has helped to implement grade level centers, district curriculum teams and bond projects at the elementary and middle schools.
The board recognized van der Laan’s service during the board meeting, and were saddened to accept her retirement.
“You are still here, but thank you for the service that you have done,” Harvey Burnett, president of the board of education, said as he addressed van der Laan during the meeting.
In her 35 years years in education, she has been most pleased to see the improvement in early literacy skills, and has enjoyed getting children to read by the end of kindergarten.
“When I went in through education you had a general overview of reading, diagnostics and how to figure out where kids are [in their reading skills] and move them forward,” she said. “I think we are getting better at training teachers at the colleges and bringing those of us who never had that training up to speed. If you cannot read, you cannot do anything else.”
Michigan Leadership Institute, the company the board has contracted with to help find a new superintendent, will have its first meeting with the board on Jan. 31 to lay out the process for the next steps to find a replacement. Van der Laan will not be leaving her position until Aug. 31, but she and the board intend to have her successor in place by July 1 so she may aid in the transition.
“Before a new superintendent changes everything, we want them to understand the history behind [the way the staff, teams and systems operate], and the why behind [their operation],” she said. “Once they understand, I am sure there will be bigger, better pictures of where [the administration] needs to go.”
Also from the board of education:
• The board unanimously voted to enter into a contract with Skillman Corporation to begin a district assessment of Buchanan schools. The company will evaluate the conditions of each building, including mechanical and electrical systems and the structure. The board of education will be given a facilities needs list to help them develop any immediate plans as well as 5-, 10- and 15-year plans. The assessment process will be completed by August 2017, and the cost will be a lump sum of $14,000. If the district decided to seek a bond to pay for improvements, the cost would come off of the contract if the board decided to use Skillman Corporation for repairs.
• A resolution was passed unanimously by the board to submit a proposition at a special election Tuesday, May 2, 2017. The board intends to change the existing language on the sinking fund millage from 2014. When the millage was originally passed, funds raised from it were unable to be used toward technology and safety and security purchases at schools, but changes to the law now allow the funds to be applied toward the additional areas.
“There is no cost to our community members. Absolutely none,” van der Laan said.
The board now needs the public to vote whether or not they want to allow the millage to include the ability to purchase technology and safety and security necessities. There will be no change to the amount of monies collected from the millage.
“The only thing we want to do is expand the definition [of the sinking fund],” van der Laan said. “If they vote no, we can still use the sinking fund it does not take any money away. If they vote yes then we can also purchase security cameras, or something for safety purposes.”