The Lyle Public School board took on a pressing question at its monthly meeting Monday night: Who will fill the roles of superintendent and principal next year?

“We need to figure out how this is going to fit together,” said Jerry Sampson, board chair.

The board discussed extending Interim Superintendent/Principal Joe Guanella’s contract for one more year, which would take care of the immediate need and buy the board time. Ultimately, the board moved to have a hiring committee meet with Guanella and set up a contract. After the coming year’s arrangements are made, members said they intended to look toward a permanent solution.

“Let’s get this stable here,” Sampson said. “Then get going right away.”

Board member Jessie Meyer agreed, saying the next step was to talk with other schools in Lyle’s consortium, including Glenville/Emmons and Grand Meadow.

“We need to start talking with the consortium, saying, ‘Where are we at? What are we doing?’” Meyer said.

As a whole, the board agreed Lyle needed a strong principal to ensure the school would remain fully functional. The superintendent must be able to come and go without disrupting any school activities, board members said.

Guanella, who was present at the meeting, said he was open to staying one more year, as long as that was it.

“I can do it for a short time,” he said. “But I can’t sustain it.”

While he has been well received by students, Guanella said it was not his intention when he began the interim position in February to stick around for an extended period of time.

Summer programs

During the meeting, the board also approved joint summer programs with the city that would begin mid-June. Ideas included a variety of inside, technology-based programs along with outdoor ones like tee ball and photography.

“There are multiple opportunities for offsite education,” Guanella said, brining up the Hormel Nature Center as one possibility. It was not yet decided how long the programs would run, but they would likely be open to children from outside Lyle.

The school’s portion of the summer programs, which would run approximately $8,000 to $10,000, would come from money available in its community education fund.

The school board also:

-approved an overnight senior trip for eight students to the Twin Cities that includes a downtown segue tour, a trip to Mill City Museum and a visit to the Water Park of America.

-approved the Spanish trip, which sends seven students from Lyle and five from Glenville plus adults to Spain, then later carries on to Italy and Vatican City.

-considered a budget deficit on school lunches and how to remedy the problem as a point for future discussion. The board will look at raising lunch prices as one option.

-approved the resignation of music teacher Rebecca Ogilvie.

-approved its integration budget.