North Scott names interim superintendent

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By Sheena Dooley | Friday, August 1, 2008 8:46 AM CDT | () comments

Dennis Rucker of LeClaire, Iowa, has been named interim superintendent of the North Scott School District. Most recently, Rucker led the Bethalto Community School District in Bethalto, Ill. (Contributed photo)

UPDATED: A retired educator with more than two decades leading school districts in Illinois will be the interim superintendent of the North Scott School District.

Dennis Rucker, 62, will start his job leading the 3,000-student district Monday, when administrators and some teachers are scheduled to return to school. It will mark the first time the LeClaire resident has held a superintendent position since 2004, when he retired after

10 years heading the Bethalto Community School District in Bethalto, Ill. Prior to that, he spent 13 years as superintendent for the Riverdale Community School District in Port Byron, Ill.

Rex Masterson, school board president, said the board is still working on the terms of a contract agreement, which members will most likely approve at their Aug. 11 meeting. The contract will run from August to June 30, 2009, when a permanent leader will fill the position. Board members will start their superintendent search in October in the hopes of making a final selection by February, Masterson said.

“He just impressed people,” said Jack Hill, North Scott board member. “Under the circumstances, we are looking for an interim, we felt he would be the best fit to get us through this upcoming year … One of the things that impressed everyone was when he was asked what his first order of business would be when he started the job and he said he would get a hold of (Sandy) Dose and tell her how sorry he was. That just kind of showed a human side to him.”

North Scott has been without a leader since July 1, when former Superintendent Tim Dose unexpectedly died during a dental procedure at Spring Park Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons. He had gone to have a wisdom tooth removed and was given anesthetic, from which he didn’t wake up.

The board opted earlier this month to hire an interim leader for the 2008-09 school year instead of a permanent replacement because of the timing of the vacancy. A full search can take months, and Masterson was told by Ray and Associates, a Cedar Rapids-based search firm used by North Scott, that the most qualified candidates have likely already signed on with other districts.

A search committee of three board members — Joni Dittmer, Tim Lane and Paul Dierickx — last week narrowed a list of about 20 candidates to three finalists for the interim job: Rucker, Pat DeLuca of the Rockford, Ill., area, and Dan Roe of DeWitt. The three were interviewed Tuesday and Wednesday, with the board making its final selection in closed session after the final interview. District leaders announced board members’ decision Thursday.

All three candidates had previous superintendent experience, with DeLuca gaining a majority of his at North Scott, where he served as the district’s leader from 1987 to 2001. For the past five years, he was the superintendent of the Harlem School District near Rockford, Ill. He left that job in October, after the school board “ousted him” from the post after having a difficult relationship with teachers and some parents, according to a story in the Rockford Register Star.

DeLuca has disputed that characterization, saying he signed a mutual separation agreement with the board and could not recall a “contentious” moment with a parent. Masterson said DeLuca’s experience with the Harlem district wasn’t a factor in the North Scott board’s decision not to hire him for the interim position.

“We had three excellent candidates,” Masterson said. “The board felt Dr. Rucker was the person we wanted to go with at this point.”

Rucker said since his retirement four years ago he has thought about taking an interim superintendent position. The North Scott job appealed to him because it’s a temporary job that allows him to be back in schools with students, and he has spent time in the past several years volunteering to help children with math lab activities at Alan Shepard Elementary School.

The district is also just a 15-mile drive from his home in LeClaire that he shares with his wife, Peggy, and he has three granddaughters enrolled in North Scott schools, which he said wasn’t his reason for applying.

“They have gone through a real tragic situation this past month, and I was just hoping I could help out in providing stability and continuity to the programs they have going,” Rucker said. “We are talking about a very fine school district. I was hoping I could maintain that until such a time the board could do a search to find a permanent replacement for the future.”

When Rucker starts the job next week, he will face tasks such as getting administrators and teachers ready for the new school year, helping the district adapt to leadership changes and learning how Iowa schools work, including how they are financed and what their academic standards require, Masterson said.

“He brings great experience,” Lane said. “His management and leadership style will lend themselves well to the situation we are dealing with. He’s got some good ideas in terms of moving the district forward keeping in mind the tragic loss we have endured.”

Sheena Dooley can be contacted at (563) 383-2363 or sdooley@qctimes.com.