For months Jeannie Dwyer has been stepping in as the Douglas County School District's Acting Superintendent while they look to hire a new one.
Dwyer was offered the position during a previous meeting on March 12th, however the motion was void due to not being on the agenda item beforehand.
After bringing it back up in today's agenda, the school board voted to not hire their Acting Superintendent to the official position.
The board went into a heavy discussion on this item that lasted almost an hour. Three board members want Dwyer as their new superintendent but the other four disagreed.
During public comment at the beginning of the meeting there were mixed feelings regarding the consideration of Dwyer as the school district's superintendent.
Some commentors argue that she's the most qualified to take on this role.
"She has so much experience, she loves the children, she loves this district, they're just piling on a whole bunch of more work for her to do and so I'm sorry it didn't go," said Leslie Hokenson, Minden resident.
"She's definitely deserving of it. Taking on the roles that the superintendent does, the HR person here did, and the roles that she's been doing for years, it just tells you what kind of person she is and what she could do and what she could bring to that role," said Brian Dempsey, Gardnerville resident.Â
However other commentors have argued against Dwyer, saying the board should consider other candidates to see what they can offer first.
One woman says she questions Dwyer's integrity after she's been given an unfair advantage of getting to review other candidate's applications.
"That kind of seems like conflict of interest," said Minden resident Jan Muzzy. "So this is another point that she probably should've said no I shouldn't be looking at these if I'm going to be considered for this job, it should go to someone else."
Dwyer says she will not apply to run against candidates for the job because in addition to Acting Superintendent, she is also the Executive Director of Inclusive Education and Acting Director of Human Resources.
"She has appeared to conduct herself fairly well," said Virginia Starrett, Gardnerville resident. "Again, I think it's unfortunate that she hasn't left her name in the competition to see how she squares up with other people who apply."
With Dwyer no longer in the running, the school board will now be turning their focus to the eight candidates that have applied for the position so far, and soon will release how they plan to rate and determine who will be the most qualified.
