Riverside Brookfield High School’s Board of Education has strongly suggested Dr. David Bonnette be hired as interim superintendent for the 2009-10 school year, but a decision will not be made until the new board is seated.

The School Board voted unanimously to approve Bonnette as a consultant effective immediately at the April 14 board meeting.

Bonnette will be providing assistance to the board and the administration in developing and transitioning, as new board members take their seats and following the resignation of Superintendent/Principal Jack Baldermann. The resignation is effective at the end of June.

Bonnette said, in the short term, he will be working with the orientation of newly elected board members Matt Sinde, Dan Moon and Mike Welch. Bonnette will make sure the newest additions to the board have a grasp on the district’s budget and issues relative to school finance, personnel matters, including contracts and the curriculum and instructional programs, according to Bonnette.

The School Board has hired Bonnette on as a consultant for up to 100 hours at $50 per hour, according to School Board President Larry Herbst. If more hours are needed, the School Board will have to approve the extra time.

Herbst said the sole purpose for Bonnette is to help the existing administration build an interim administration for next year.

He will also be spending time with Baldermann as he transitions out of his job.

“Then, it will be up to the new board, when it is seated, to confirm that they would like me to serve in the role of interim superintendent,” Bonnette said.

If selected, Bonnette will be in his 35th year as a superintendent. Before his retirement, Bonnette was superintendent of Riverside Public School District 96.

“I was thinking at this point that I was really retired,” Bonnette said. “If I can make a contribution here, get them over this hump and help guide them through the superintendent search, that I would feel good about.”

School Board member James Marciniak said this is an important and confusing time for the district. The board needs to act now with concern for the students and their quality of education.

“We have immediate needs that need to be addressed in the administration, and I feel this is important,” Marciniak said. “This resolution offers to bring on Dr. Bonnette as consulting basis only. This is a wise decision and is time critical.”

William McCloskey, board member, added RB has one of the finest superintendents in the state available for its services and an opportunity like that can not be turned down.

“He will be a tremendous asset,” McCloskey said. “I look forward to your success.”

The School Board met in closed session April 14 for an hour before the regularly scheduled board meeting.

Moon read a letter the new members sent to Marciniak and Herbst stating they were not in favor of any further moves taken by the current board and that no personnel actions should be taken.

“We request that you notice up a board meeting for the day our certificate of results issued so that as quickly as possible we may be sworn in. We may thank and recognize departing board members and we may proceed to organize the new board,” Moon read.

The Cook County Clerk will release the official election results Tuesday, April 28.

Herbst said it has never been the intention of the out-going School Board to make the decision to hire on a superintendent, interim or not, before the new board was seated.

However, the combined role of superintendent/principal will no longer exist, according to Herbst.

Anyone brought on for the 2009-10 school year will have an interim title because Bonnette and the district will be head hunting for permanent replacements for superintendent and principal, according to Herbst.

“We need to keep moving and start doing some things,” he said. “There was an immediacy to bring (Bonnette) on as a consultant. That was the purpose.”