Teton County School District #1 offers interim superintendent post to Dr. Scott Criss; contract vote set for Wednesday

The Teton County School District #1 board of trustees announced on May 9 that it has offered the interim superintendent position for the 2025–26 school year to Dr. Scott Criss, who the board identified as the district’s current assistant superintendent.

Unidentified Speaker 1, a board member, said, “we have offered the position to Doctor Scott Criss,” and described the finalist field as strong: "It was really amazing how incredible all these candidates were." The board held the announcement at a brief special meeting convened May 9 at about 4:02 p.m.

The board also said it will launch a national search for a permanent superintendent. "We are going to initiate an RFP process to hire a national search team to begin a process to identify a full time long term superintendent," Unidentified Speaker 1 said, adding that the board plans a retreat to set strategic goals and candidate priorities ahead of the search. The board hopes the selected search firm and related work will be "rolling by August 1."

No formal contract vote occurred at the special meeting. "We're not gonna vote on anything tonight. We were gonna vote on the contract on Wednesday," Unidentified Speaker 1 said. The board did not record a motion, mover, second or a recorded vote at the May 9 session; the transcript indicates the contract vote will take place at a later meeting on Wednesday (day of week stated, exact date not specified in the transcript).

Board members exchanged congratulations following the announcement and moved to adjourn. The district did not provide additional details about the terms of the interim appointment, including salary, exact start date or the length of the contract beyond the 2025–26 school year; those items were not specified in the meeting record.

The board’s next formal action on this item will be the contract vote scheduled for Wednesday. The school district also said it will advertise an RFP for a national search firm and hold a board retreat to determine the permanent superintendent’s desired qualifications and strategic goals.

(Reporting note: The transcript identifies speakers only as speakers 1 and 2; the person named in the announcement is Dr. Scott Criss, identified in the record as the district's current assistant superintendent.)