Fargo Board of Education selects Dr. Corey Steiner as next superintendent

The Fargo Board of Education voted unanimously to extend an offer to Dr. Corey Steiner as the district’s next superintendent after a special meeting in which trustees reviewed stakeholder impression forms, a forced ranking and interview feedback.

Board president Christensen Minaer opened the meeting saying the purpose was “to select our superintendent as part of our superintendent search.” Anne Marie Campbell, who led the review of interview materials, told trustees that impression forms from administration, cabinet, community members, support staff and educators were provided and available for review.

The board’s decision followed one week of candidate interviews with multiple stakeholder groups, including an administrators group (elementary, middle, high school and virtual academy administration plus two district directors), a cabinet interview, a community group, an eight-member support-staff group, and an 11-member educator group. Trustees were also given a forced ranking (matrix) to complete; Dan and Campbell collected and scored the forms.

Dan read the board’s aggregated rankings: “Your first ranked candidate is Mr. Steiner with 15 points. Your second place candidate is Robert Lehi with 9 points. And your third candidate is Vincent Williams,” the board was told. Board member Allie moved “to extend an offer to Doctor Corey Steiner,” a motion seconded by Kristen Nelson. The motion passed by roll call 9-0.

Trustees then moved and voted unanimously to enter an executive session under North Dakota Century Code §44-04-19.1 for the purpose of contract negotiations. After the closed session, trustees announced that Dr. Steiner had accepted the offer, that a contract would be issued to him in the coming days, and that the board will formally approve the signed contract at its March 11 meeting.

Several trustees asked procedural questions during the public portion of the meeting. One trustee requested access to the detailed filled-out matrices used to compute rankings; staff responded that the individual forms had been collected and would be used to tabulate the final scores. Board members were reminded how to complete the forced matrix (three color-coded columns; circle one name per color) and that impression forms had been available to trustees for roughly 12 hours prior to the meeting.

Cabinet and staff who participated in interviews emphasized that each stakeholder group asked follow-up questions and completed impression forms documenting perceived strengths and areas for growth for each candidate. Anne Marie Campbell said, “I am pleased to share with you that all of the folks that had planned to be in those interviews were able to make it this week.” Cabinet members, administrators, community members, support staff and educators each provided written feedback that trustees used to inform the final ranking and vote.

The board chair announced the selection publicly: “I am very excited and proud to announce that as a board, we have selected Doctor Corey Steiner as our next superintendent,” President Christensen Minaer said after the roll call vote. The board stated that negotiations would continue in the executive session and that the contract issuance and final approval would follow the district’s normal timeline.

Implementation notes recorded during the meeting indicate that staff will issue a proposed contract to Dr. Steiner; upon his signature the board will place the contract on the March 11 consent/regular agenda for formal approval. No specific contract terms were disclosed at the meeting.

The district thanked all participants — interview panels, media representatives and student journalists who attended and asked questions — and adjourned the special meeting after the announcement.