After its search for a new superintendent falls short of finding a new leader, the Delmar School District turns to a familiar face to fill the vacancy.
The district’s search relied heavily on online advertising on school administrator websites and email lists, as well as targeted advertising on LinkedIn, coming in at a total cost of some $3,300. But, at a special meeting earlier this month, Board of Education President Raymond Vincent announced that effort brought in only nine resumes and failed to yield any qualified candidates.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Vincent reiterated his frustration.
“We spent many hours in this boardroom pouring over the limited number of resumes that we got and really were disappointed in the response that we received,” he said.
The next step, he said, was for board members to look for a candidate they could approach proactively.
That candidate was the district’s interim Superintendent, Michael Bleile, previously Delmar’s Supervisor of Curriculum. Following a closed door meeting to discuss personnel matters on Tuesday, the board reconvened in public session and voted unanimously to make Bleile’s interim status permanent.
Bleile takes over a district facing looming financial challenges. Reassessment sparked heartburn among many property owners and a reluctance among policymakers to raise property tax rates. Meanwhile, the district’s zero-based budgeting approach leaves administrators with no extra cash to meet rising costs. On Tuesday, the board got a briefing on the district’s current financial position from Chief Operating Officer Monet Smith.
“There will not be substantial, or any, local funds balances,” she said. “We will still have all of our required reserves, more than sufficient, but this just simply echoes our need for a current expense referendum.”
Late last year, the district elected to hold off on a planned operating referendum, citing uncertainty around reassessment and state legislation. They tentatively rescheduled that referendum for early 2027, meaning that preparing for that vote and swaying public opinion in favor of it will be among the biggest issues facing Bleile as he takes over the district’s top job.
An operating referendum in nearby Laurel earlier this year failed by a nearly two to one margin.
