At the Paynesville Area School Board meeting Tuesday night, the board approved restructuring the two positions into one. Community Education Director Steve Brisendine was approved as the combined director of the two departments.
“I feel Brisendine is the key person to make the new position work,” Pat Flanders, board member, said. “I think it will be a demanding job. I don’t want him to be spread too thin. I feel this should be an experimental position so if things don’t work out it can be changed.”
Superintendent Howard Caldwell informed the board the program would be continuously evaluated. “We want it to work and we don’t want a lot of frustrated people as a result of the merger of the two positions. We will adjust the program as needed,” he added.
As part of the new position, a community education coordinator will be hired to work with Brisendine. In addition, the community education secretary will also assume more duties. The coordinator’s contract would be for 10 months while Brisendine’s is for 12 months. The coordinator would work 80 percent with community education and 20 percent of his time with the activities department.