By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
MIDDLEVILLE – Brandywine Community Schools Superintendent Gary Rider has been offered the position as superintendent of Thornapple Kellogg Schools in Middlleville.
The announcement came Saturday morning during a special meeting of the Thornapple Kellogg Schools Board of Education. Board president Don Haney called Rider immediately following the meeting and confirmed Rider accepted the offer.
"Mr. Rider's experience as a superintendent and his leadership all came through loud and clear in the interview process," Haney said.
Rider was chosen over Assistant Superintendent of Coopersville Area Public Schools Dave Sipka. Rider's hiring will become official following a successful contract negotiation.
Scott Kiel, vice president of the Thornapple Kellogg board of education, said Rider showed "a little more of a vision."
That vision could come in handy immediately at Thornapple Kellogg. The district is currently preparing a $29 million bond issue to renovate the high school and add an auditorium and elementary classrooms.
Thornapple last passed a bond proposal in 2002. The bond funded a $24 million project focused on athletic facility improvements.
Brandywine is in the midst of their own bond issue, which Rider has said will appear on May election ballots.
"The leadership it took to accomplish what he did at Brandywine," was a large factor in Rider's hiring said David Smith, Thornapple Kellogg board trustee. "He rose to the top out of a pool of eight candidates."
The Thornapple Kellogg board also officially accepted the resignation of current superintendent Kevin Konarska. Assistant superintendent Patricia Koeze will assume the role of interim superintendent until Rider can fulfill the role full time, the board announced.
"This has not been without a lot of work and a lot of dedication by this board," Haney said.
Rider said Saturday he is preparing a formal statement for Monday about the hiring.