HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – For the second time in less than a year, the Board of Education at Holland Public Schools will need to search for a new operational leader in the district.
In a special meeting on Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 30, 2021), the panel unanimously approved a “mutual separation agreement” that immediately ended the term of Superintendent Shanie Keelean after just five months. Although the board was “clear there had been no professional misconduct or impropriety,” per a district statement, and that “the separation was a mutual agreement,” no other mention was made as to what led to her departure nearly six months after she was appointed.
In a prepared statement following the vote, Board President Phillip Meyer said, “Collectively, we recognized that change is difficult and that Mrs. Keelean’s talents, gifts and approach ultimately are not in alignment with what the Board envisioned to help further the District’s priorities at this time. This does not diminish Mrs. Keelean’s educational experience and talents.”
Keelean, who made no immediate comment as to this development, received her bachelors degree at Grand Valley State University. She came to Holland from the Chicagoland-area Waukegan Community School District, where she had been the associate superintendent of school leadership and development.
She was in the first year of a three-year, $162,000 contract, and according to the Holland Sentinel, Keelean will be paid for the rest of the Academic 2022 year, along with annuity, vacation and sick day payouts. The district will also cover her health insurance costs through next August, or until she secures employment elsewhere, whichever comes first.
The Board named Holland Middle School Principal Nick Cassidy as Interim Superintendent while the district searches for a new permanent leader, which “will likely last through the end of the current school year,” according to the HPS official statement. Cassidy is in his eighth year as a school principal in the district.
Keelean’s five-month tenure comes after a 13-year run as Holland Public Schools Superintendent by Dr. Brian Davis, who stepped down at the end of June to become the Associate Executive Director for Professional Learning with the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators.
