The Highland School Board said goodbye to their interim superintendent at their recent meeting, as they look forward to a shared superintendent agreement with the Lone Tree School District this month.

Dr. Mike Jorgensen was hired as interim superintendent for the 2017-2018 school year after former superintendent Chris Armstrong retired. Jorgensen previously was superintendent for six years for the Washington School District, and served for 12 years as Southeast Webster-Grand School District’s superintendent. Jorgensen looks back on his time at Highland, “I’ve really appreciated the opportunity and really in a lot of ways it’s kind of been fun to come back to a small rural district that was kind of where my roots are from. I’m also anxious to go back into retirement. I certainly enjoyed my retirement as well, but I’ve been really appreciative of Highland and it’s been a fun year, a good year and I’ve enjoyed the people I’ve worked with here.”

Jorgensen says he will be serving Highland as a consultant this coming school year assisting Superintendent Ken Crawford, including tasks such as grant writing, facilitating committees, and working on public relations and community outreach. He also works as a consultant for the Southern Regional Education Board. The Highland School Board’s first meeting with Crawford will be on July 9th at 5 p.m.