Culver Schools Interim Superintendent Chuck Kitchell made his retirement official this week. “I will be retiring at the end of the school year. The board accepted that,” he says. “They had some good comments. They thanked me for the work I’d done and were very appreciative. So I appreciate their comments.”
In a letter to school board members, Kitchell expressed his gratitude for his 28 years with the Culver Community Schools Corporation. During that time, he served in various capacities, including teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, and director of operations, before taking over as interim superintendent a year ago. Kitchell’s final day will be June 30, 2017.
But while the school board began the process of saying goodbye to one of its administrators, it also took steps to keep some others. Kitchell says the board voted Monday to extend the contracts of Middle/High School Principal Brett Berndt, Middle/High School Assistant Principal Julie Berndt, and Elementary School Principal Erin Proskey. “We added one year to their contracts, so they are now good through the ’18-’19 school year,” Kitchell says. “So I think that’s always a good thing, when we can roll administrator contracts and give them a little bit of security moving forward.”
This comes after Julie Berndt’s administrator’s contract was nearly allowed to expire earlier this year. However, the resignation of former middle/high school assistant principal and athletic director Luke Biernacki, allowed her to remain.
Also during Monday’s meeting, the Culver School Board took a few steps to balance the corporation’s budget as 2016 comes to an end. Members voted to appropriate additional funds for debt service purposes and pass a tax neutrality resolution.
