CALDWELL — The Caldwell School District will have a new superintendent, a new chief financial officer and two new school board trustees in the coming months. 

Trustee Andrew Butler resigned Monday. A school board member since 2019, Butler was halfway through his second four-year term. 

Butler didn’t attend Monday’s board meeting, and he couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Board chairman Travis Manning said that Butler is “moving on to some other things in his life.”

“We appreciate all of the work and time that he has dedicated to the kids and staff of Caldwell School District,” Manning said.

The board will appoint Butler’s replacement. Trustees Monday adopted a resolution declaring a vacancy in Zone 4 and setting a date — Dec. 8 — to interview candidates. 

This won’t be the only change on the five-member board. Longtime trustee and current vice chairwoman Marisela Pesina is leaving the board, as she campaigns for Caldwell City Council. Pesina is completing her second term on the school board, which expires this year.

Sam Stone is running unopposed for Pesina’s seat. Stone will take over in January, pending next week’s election. Trustee Trish Robertson is also running unopposed to maintain her seat. Manning and trustee Manuel Godina’s terms expire in 2027. 

Meanwhile, Superintendent N. Shalene French, who has led the district since 2016, is retiring at the end of this school year.

“We haven’t had a lot of changeover in the last five, six years,” Manning said. “We’ve been really stable that way and have been really cohesive as a board through some challenging times.”

Here’s how the Caldwell school board will look, following next week’s election: 

• Trish Robertson – Zone 1 (term expires 2029)
• Manuel Godina – Zone 2 (term expires 2027)
• Travis Manning, chairman – Zone 3 (term expires 2027)
• Vacant – Zone 4 (term expires 2027)
• Sam Stone – Zone 5 (term expires 2029)

Trustees set target date for superintendent interviews

Also on Monday, Caldwell trustees set a March target date for interviewing superintendent candidates. 

Trustees over the next month plan to ask district parents, students and staff about their preferences for French’s replacement. A survey, which will be available in English and Spanish, should be released in the coming days. 

Survey feedback will guide essay questions on the superintendent application, trustees said Monday. Trustees plan to post the application after the board’s Dec. 8 meeting. Then they hope to interview candidates in March. 

This timeline would keep the district “ahead of the curve” for hiring a superintendent before next school year, said Katie Russell, communications and program associate at the Idaho School Boards Association (ISBA). The Caldwell school board hired ISBA to lead the search.

Caldwell likely will compete for candidates with the Kuna School District, which is also hiring a new superintendent and has set a similar timeline to hire someone before next year.

Caldwell also needs a new chief financial officer. Current CFO Cheryl Sanderson is retiring at the end of this school year. 

On Monday, trustees weighed whether to post the position soon or to wait until after they hire a new superintendent. They didn’t make a decision, but Manning appeared to lean toward posting the job sooner rather than later. Managing the district’s roughly $40 million budget is a “complicated” job, which would be difficult to learn in a summer before the school year starts. 

French added, “I would not recommend waiting that long, absolutely not.”