MATTAWAN, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A Van Buren County school district has announced two finalists in the running to be its next superintendent.
At a meeting on Wednesday the Mattawan Board of Education selected Randall Fleenor and Stephanie Lemmer after a recent round of interviews with multiple candidates.
The district began the search process to find a new leader after Superintendent Robin Buchler announced in November that she would be retiring at the end of the school year. Buchler was hired to lead the district in 2015 after being promoted from assistant superintendent of instruction.
This new role will not be the first time both candidates have headed a Michigan school system. Lemmer is the superintendent at Centerville Public Schools and Fleenor is superintendent of Lakewood Public Schools.
Board members conducted two days of interviews with five separate applicants before making the selection this week.
Lemmer and Fleenor will return for final interview sessions for the role later this month. Fleenor is scheduled to be interviewed at 7 P.M. on March 24th, and Lemmer will be interviewed the following day at the same time.
Mattawan Consolidated Schools has contracted with the firm Rider Educational Consulting to assist with the selection process. In January the district held a series of public input meeting where administrators and board members presented details on the job search.
Lemmer previously served as director of Head Start for the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency before being hired as the superintendent of St. Joseph County’s Centreville Public Schools in 2017.
Working in a variety of roles as an educator, Fleenor was an elementary teacher and principal before being tapped in 2015 to oversee Lakewood Public Schools in Barry County.
District officials say the new superintendent is expected to start overseeing the district on July 1st.
