Owatonna announces semifinalists for superintendent
The Owatonna Public Schools School Board has selected five semi-finalists for the superintendent position as part of the process to replace Superintendent Jeff Elstad, who will retire June 30.
These candidates were chosen based on desired characteristics developed from student, staff, and community input. The qualities include: integrity, honesty, transparency, clear communication, compassion, empathy, and high accountability, along with a student focus and innovative work in college and career readiness.
The semi-finalists are:
Tamara Champa - Superintendent, Hastings Public Schools (MN) - enrollment 4000, hastings.k12.mn.us Prior to her current position which began in 2023, Champa served for 11 years as superintendent of Pine Island Public Schools. She also has more than six years of experience as a principal.
Daniel Edwards - Executive Director of Academic Services, Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools (MN) - enrollment 8600, plsas.org Edwards has spent his entire career at Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, including two years in his current position, two years as director of teaching and learning, sixteen years as principal, and four years as assistant principal.
Eric Hudspith - Superintendent, Waseca Public Schools (MN) - enrollment 1700, waseca.k12.mn.us Before his five years at Waseca Public Schools, Hudspith spent six years as director of human resources at Mankato Public Schools. He also has experience as a principal at Mankato and Albert Lea as well as director of facilities and transportation in Albert Lea.
Anthony Padrnos - Executive Director of Technology, Osseo Area Schools (MN) - enrollment 21,000, district279.org Prior to his eight years in his current position with Osseo Public Schools, Padrnos served for three years as director of technology and one year as principal with Richfield Public Schools.
Jami Jo Thompson - Superintendent, Norfolk Public Schools (NE) - enrollment 4500, norfolkpublicschools.org Thompson has been superintendent at Norfolk Public Schools for twelve years. She previously served for five years as director of student programs and five years as special education and staff development coordinator for Beatrice Public Schools in Nebraska.
“We appreciated the number of highly qualified candidates who applied for our position,” said Mark Sebring, chair of the school board. “We look forward to interviewing our semi-
finalists to determine who the top candidates are, based on what the community, students and staff said they wanted in a superintendent.”
Semi-finalists interviews are March 14, 17 and 18 at the Owatonna Public Schools District Office, 333 East School Street, and are open to the public. Questions will not be taken from the audience. Each candidate will spend several hours at the district for a tour, orientation and interview. A complete interview schedule is available on the superintendent search page on the school district website - isd761.org/superintendent-search.
After the semi-finalist interviews, the board will name the finalists. Each finalist will spend an entire day at the district, meeting with several staff groups, touring the city and schools, having an informal Q&A with parents and community members, meeting with business leaders, talking with a panel of students, and concluding with a final school board interview.
Finalist names and interview schedules will be announced March 18. The dates tentatively selected for finalist interviews are March 19, 20 and 25.
Twenty-four completed applications were submitted for the superintendent position. Candidates were from five states and represented a range of current job titles including superintendent, assistant superintendent, executive director, director, principal, coordinator and consultant.