Green returns to Spring Cove School District as acting superintendent
School board approves former superintendent for temporary post
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ROARING SPRING -- A familiar face is back at Spring Cove School District, as former Superintendent Rodney Green returns as acting superintendent.
The board approved his appointment in a 6 to 3 vote.
The decision comes amid the district's ongoing search for a superintendent after Betsy Baker stepped down on June 30. District business manager Steven Foor had served as acting superintendent since Baker's retirement.
As a 1970 graduate of Central High School, Green served as a principal and director of special education at Spring Cove from 1989 to 2003 before becoming district superintendent from 2007-12. Since then, he's helped as a superintendent search consultant for multiple school districts.
"I live here, I was raised in this area, so I feel like I'm very connected to the community and the values of the community," he said.
With a bachelor's degree in elementary school counseling from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Green holds many degrees in education, including a doctoral studies degree in educational leadership and administration from Penn State University.
He is also a member of the Roaring Spring Borough Council, but he plans to resign on Tuesday, as being a superintendent and a borough member is against school code.
Effective Oct. 20, Green will serve as acting superintendent until June 30, 2027, or until the board finds a permanent superintendent.
After the board approved Foor's resignation as superintendent, they went into executive session for 45 minutes with new board member Phillip Waite --who was sworn into the board that night (see related story) -- to discuss the district's ongoing superintendent search.
They returned to the board room for a role call vote that ended with a 6 to 3 decision. Board members Misti Fisher, Alyssa McGregor and Erika Smith were the only board members who rejected Green as acting superintendent.
"We put out a survey for our superintendent search, and it was very clear the direction that the community wanted us to go," Fisher said before voting no. "We need to start listening to our community and our taxpayers."
McGregor said Green's answers were beautiful and heartfelt, but she also voted no due to the board's procedure of the superintendent search.
"How we got from here to there, I have to say no, and that's of no consequence to Mr. Green but to the procedural nature of how we got to this point," she said.
Smith agreed with McGregor's statement and also voted no.
After the meeting, Smith said the board has conducted two rounds of superintendent interviews so far, but they could have chosen a candidate from that selection rather than picking someone to fill an interim position instead.
"(We've had) lots of highly qualified candidates, but I don't agree with where we are in this process," she said.
Foor said it was an honor to serve as acting superintendent.
"Blessed and rewarded that I was able to serve in this (role) for the district," he said.
Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.