K-M board put effort into choosing new superintendent

Kasson-Mantorville’s school board chose a new superintendent to lead the district last week after a second round of interviews with the two finalists. Tuesday night the board approved the contract with Theodore Ihns, currently the superintendent of the Indianola Community Schools in Indianola, Iowa.
Choosing an individual to lead a growing district such as Kasson-Mantorville is not an easy job, but the school board rose to the challenge and did their homework to choose the person they believe is the right choice. The past two weeks have seen the board meet with six candidates in lengthy interview sessions. At the conclusion of the first round of interviews, board members chose two finalists who returned to Kasson for another series of questions. The second time they were also asked to prepare a 10-minute presentation on how they would explain to district stakeholders why an operating levy was necessary.
The questions were thoughtful, and the answers gave the board members insights into how the candidates would deal with the challenges.
The Minnesota School Board Association, of course, also helped in the process, going over the applications submitted and recommending a pool of candidates for board members to consider. It was from this list that the first six candidates were chosen.
A thank you is in order to the board for the work they put into their job.
And a welcome to Kasson-Mantorville to the new superintendent who will begin his job here on July 1.
A good week for local athletes at state
The Winter Sports Season is coming to an end as the state tournaments are now underway.
The Dodge County Wildcats girls hockey team made their first-ever trip to the state tournament in St. Paul and came away as the state runner-ups. Congratulations to the team members who gave it their best.
The next weekend it was the turn of the Kasson-Mantorville wrestling team. The team was victorious in their quarterfinal and semifinal matches and wrestled very well against a tough Simley team on their way to the runner-up position. The weekend did not end with the team tournament as nine KoMets competed the next day in the individual competitions and again showed themselves to be among the best in the state.
Hayfield wrestler Bo Zwiener also earned a spot in the state individual competition.
Congratulations to all who have competed in this year’s tournaments.
The tournament season is not over yet with section competition still going on in both boys and girls basketball. Good luck to those teams still in the running for upcoming state tournament spots.