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The West Salem School Board learned Monday night from district Superintendent Nancy Burns that the hiring process to find a replacement for Principal Troy Gunderson will kick into high gear during the rest of this month.

Gunderson submitted his resignation in June to take the superintendent job for the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealau School District.

The posting for Gunderson’s replacement was set to close on Tuesday, July 15, and Burns said the district had received 23 applications as of Monday.

“We’ve got applicants from all over the state and the experience level varies all the way from no prior experience as principal to 20 years on the job,” Burns said.

Burns said that she and Gunderson had taken a look at the applications and were very impressed with the quality.

“We’ve got some excellent candidates,” Burns said.

She explained to the board that a hiring team composed of administrators, teachers and staff will go through the applications on Thursday of this week. Then, on July 24, the same group will interview five or six applicants in order to pick two or three candidates to recommend to the board. Those candidates will then be interviewed by the whole board on the July 28 during a closed session with the final choice to be announced soon thereafter.

“I would say that the absolute earliest we could get a new principal here would be Aug. 15,” Burns said.

In other actions the board:

Approved the hiring of Gayle Lassen as the new middle school guidance counselor. Lassen comes to West Salem from Sparta.

Approved the hiring of Lisa Lajiness as a new speech and language therapist.

Approved the resignation of Penny Schafer from the elementary school.

Approved the resignation of LeRoy Krall as the middle school cross country coach and his hiring as the high school cross country coach. Krall will be assisting in the search for a new middle school cross country coach.

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