By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
The first of two parts.
St. Joseph School Superintendent, Gabe Edgar, has wrapped up his time as superintendent with a major issue unresolved.
Edgar came to St. Joseph in 2018 and became superintendent in 2022.
He says the St. Joseph School District and Board of Education must decipher why St. Joseph voters rejected the $157 million bond issue in April.
“I’m hopeful that the community will come forward and help us understand what they want, because I don’t know if people are opposed to two buildings from a high school standpoint or if they were just opposed to the tax that comes with a new high school,” Edgar says during an appearance on KFEQmmunity. “And so that’s really what you have to identify. We did the community survey and it came back and it was split. It was 50-50.”
Edgar says the district eventually needs to trim the number of elementary schools from 13 to 11 and likely should reduce middle schools from four to three. He says a lack of staff drives the decision to go to two high schools.
Edgar adds the number of high schools isn’t the issue.
“It’s not about two high schools,” Edgar says. “It’s about a systemic change pre-K through 12 and that’s what people have to understand. We have a broken middle school model. We have too many elementary schools. I mean we had 1700 open seats at one time in those buildings.”
Two St. Joseph middle schools teach sixth through eighth grade, two teach seventh and eighth.
Edgar says, eventually, the community and the Board of Education must come to an agreement with a school realignment.
“But, unfortunately, the two high school model drives everything if you want to fix the boundaries and you want to do all that stuff at once,” according to Edgar. “That’s why I’m saying its pre-K through 12. You have to fix it all at once.”
Edgar came to St. Joseph in 2018 when then-Superintendent Doug Van Zyl hired him as Assistant Superintendent for Finance. Edgar had served as Marcelline Superintendent for 11 years prior to coming to St. Joseph.
Edgar experienced highs and lows during his time as superintendent. Among the high points, three successive victories at the polls with more than 70% of St. Joseph voters approving an extension of the tax levy in August of 2022, more than 65% approving a $20 million bond levy in April of 2024, and a 63% majority of voters authorizing the waiving of Proposition C money to raise the levy for teacher salaries in August of 2024.
A proposal by Edgar to adopt a four-day school week failed by one vote during a Board of Education meeting in early 2024. Edgar sought it as a morale boost for existing teachers and as a potential recruiting tool for new teachers. Then, voters rejected the $157 million bond issue this past April.
One low point during his tenure does stand out for Edgar.
“Personal, bringing negative attention to the St. Joseph School District when I was arrested for DUI. That’s obviously something that was; it was hard, but there was a lot of support out there,” Edgar says. “For that I appreciate the people that did back me, because it was a mistake and that shouldn’t have been made.”
Edgar was found guilty of misdemeanor drunk driving in 2023. The St. Joseph Board of Education voted to retain Edgar as superintendent.
Under Edgar’s leadership, the St. Joseph Board of Education engaged the public in its Vision Forward campaign which resulted in the Long Range Plan for the district approved by the school board.
This is the first of two parts with Edgar.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ