The Dowagiac Board of Education has been presented with an opportunity to hire an experienced former superintendent of schools to serve as an interim superintendent for Dowagiac Union Schools for one year, 2014-2015.

By hiring an interim superintendent, our board of education would have the time to do a comprehensive search for a superintendent that would likely include 35 to 45 candidates, rather than be under pressure to settle on a candidate from a pool of fewer than 10 applicants.

Larry Crandall has offered to serve as interim superintendent of Dowagiac Union Schools for one year. He worked for the Dowagiac Union Schools for 36 years, serving as teacher, coach, assistant principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent of Dowagiac Union Schools from 1999 to 2006. In addition, if Crandall is hired for one year, there will be an estimated savings of $58,000 of our taxpayer dollars that could be used to benefit our student needs.

To me, this is common sense to give our board of education time to find the right candidate from a larger pool of applicants, to save our tax dollars that can be used to meet our student needs and to take advantage of Larry Crandall’s vast knowledge of Dowagiac Union Schools and his outstanding leadership skills.

I urge the board of education to adopt this proposal and hire Larry Crandall as interim superintendent.

Ron Jones 

Dowagiac Union Schools Superintendent, 1990-99