Days after saying goodbye to Hickman Mills, superintendent is hired by Center schools
Last Thursday, Hickman Mills Superintendent Yolanda Cargile abruptly and with little explanation announced she was leaving. Five days later, the Center School District Board of Education named her as the district’s new superintendent.
Cargile gave no timetable for when she is leaving Hickman Mills, but Center school officials said she is set to start there July 1.
Center has been searching for a new leader since June, when former superintendent Sharon Nibbelink left under a cloud of secrecy. While the district and Nibbelink had agreed not to discuss the circumstances surrounding her departure, others involved in the district complained about high teacher turnover and strained work relationships between the leadership and staff.
Center paid more than $400,000 to buy out Nibbelink’s contract. Michael Weishaar has been interim superintendent for the last eight months.
Center’s school board conducted a five-month search that drew more than 20 applicants from seven states, Washington, D. C., and Canada.
“Four of our six semi-finalists were currently sitting superintendents and had excellent qualifications. However, Dr. Cargile’s thorough preparations and deep knowledge of our district, her collaborative leadership style, her ability to navigate significant challenges, and her active presence and visibility in schools and classrooms clearly were distinguishing differences,” school board president Rebecca Lahann said in a statement. “We are confident that her leadership will serve our school community exceptionally well.”
Cargile, who is a Missouri native and graduate of Ruskin High School in the Hickman Mills district, said she sought the Center job because she saw it as a new career opportunity.
“The attraction was this small and unique district,” she said. “It wasn’t that there was any problem in Hickman Mills.”
She said she’s “extremely grateful and honored the Center Board of Education selected me to serve as Superintendent. Hickman Mills will always have a place in my heart.”
Cargile is leaving Hickman Mills after three years at the helm. She took over as superintendent of the provisionally accredited district after former superintendent Dennis Carpenter left to lead the Lee’s Summit School District. Carpenter left Lee’s Summit after more than a year of clashing with the school board over hiring a firm to lead equity training for all teachers, staff and district leaders.
For years Hickman Mills, like the Kansas City Public Schools, has struggled with raising district performance, including test scores.
Last March after announcing that the district was in serious financial trouble, Cargile led a plan, approved by the board, to close two elementary schools despite community pushback.
During her years in education Cargile has served as a social worker, tutor and mentor, middle school teacher, building principal, district level administrator and adjunct instructor. She taught in Milwaukee Public Schools for nine years and was a principal for two years before becoming director of student services in Janesville, Wisconsin.
She came to Hickman Mills in 2015 as executive director of student services, was later promoted to associate superintendent and was named superintendent in 2017. In 2018, she was awarded the Outstanding Administrator of the Year by the Missouri After School Network, and in 2019 she was recognized by the Missouri Association of School Administrators for outstanding performance as a new superintendent.
In her application to Center, Cargile wrote, “Building a strong culture and work environment that helps further the mission is a priority for me as a leader.”
She told The Star that the Center district is currently working with Hickman Mills and the Grandview School District on a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation grant that would develop real-world-learning and career preparation centers that would be shared by each district. For example, if Hickman Mills were to focus on performing arts, a Center student interested in that area might take some performing arts classes in the Hickman Mills district.
Cargile said she is “committed to doing everything I can to make the transition to the next leader a smooth one.“
Hickman Mills district leaders said they will name an interim superintendent soon and conduct a national search to find Cargile’s permanent replacement.
