With little time to bring an outsider up to speed, In the middle of a consolidation driven by declining enrollment, Elkhart Community Schools Tuesday night announced their next leader will come from within.
The school board announced they’ve hired Michele Riise. Outgoing Superintendent Larry Huff hired her in July as his assistant superintendent for elementary instruction.
Riise was previously the superintendent in Griffith in northwest Indiana, and before that she led Argos schools through some tough financial times.
Huff leaves in July to be a superintendent in Rockford, Illinois. School Board President Troy Scott said a consultant told the board that conducting a national search to succeed Huff would have set the district back two or three years in their efforts to right-size buildings and shore up their finances.
After the meeting Riise said the community made a wise choice.
”I think that was a very strong and bold move on the board’s part," Riise said. "With all the consolidation, the financial challenges that we have, people are unsettled, and to know that they have a leader within their ranks to take on that challenge and already know what’s happening, is a very huge plus for them and they should be reassured that we’re going to make it happen.”
Scott said they hope to have her contract negotiated by their next public meeting Jan. 27.
