By By JAMES COLLINS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- After a site visit to Principal Gary Rider's Kenowa Hills High School in Grand Rapids, the search for a Brandywine superintendent is apparently over.
Though not official yet, the Brandywine Public Schools Board of Education offered Rider the job after completing the visit and he graciously accepted the offer.
Board president Jim Curran was pleased to announce that Rider had accepted, but still has to sit down with the candidate and "hammer out a contract."
Curran was also pleased to announce that the decision was unanimous among the seven board members.
The board was impressed with Rider's initial interview and after spending the afternoon touring his school and talking to administrators and staff, they were convinced.
The five board members, who were present at the visit, had a discussion in a conference room at the Grand Rapids high school and decided to make a motion to offer Rider the job. They voted 5-0 in favor of the motion. Board members Michael Armstrong and Rick Zache were not able to attend the meeting, but Curran said they gave their approval of Rider beforehand.
Curran was much more comfortable with the 7-0 decision than with the board's 3-3-1 vote with the two previous finalists, Kim Kramer and David Gray.
Curran would like to get Rider out to the district for some visits before the end of the school year, but said it may be a few weeks before anything happens because of the fact that schools are so busy at the end of the year.
He will sit down with Rider to discuss a contract for next school year as soon as Rider has the time to do so.