Principal rotations in Mandan public elementary schools will be based on future retirements.

Superintendent Kent Hjelmstad submitted a rotation plan that accommodates current elementary principals at the district's March committee meetings Monday.

No Mandan elementary principals will be moved next year, but in the next one to three years, two principals are anticipated to retire, and with their retirements, some shifts would occur. Custer Elementary Principal Bob Klemisch would take over at Roosevelt Elementary when Tom Conlon retires, and Fort Lincoln Elementary Principal Owen Stockdill would move to Lewis and Clark Elementary when Shirley Reed retires.

The board began discussing principal rotation because of the upcoming retirement of Mary Stark Elementary Principal Sharon Mosbrucker. That school will not have a current Mandan principal moved there because the board hired David Steckler, a principal in the Williston School District,on Tuesday night in a special meeting.

Part of Hjelmstad's recommended principal rotation is to allow the new principal to become familiar with Mary Stark. The purpose of allowing time between the board's proposal for rotating principals and the actual rotation is to allow everyone to prepare. This way, it gives teachers and principals time to plan for the transitions, he said.

Some school personnel, however, need to stay put. They include the school secretary, the head custodian and the school counselor, Hjelmstad said. It is because these people are important to help the new person become familiar with the routines of the building and get to know the students.

The rotation does not account for future openings or retirements beyond Reed and Conlon. Hjelmstad did this because the district will have a new superintendent, and the board will need to study rotation's effectiveness, he said.

The principal rotation only applies to elementary schools.

The committees also talked about the proposed security cameras at Mandan High School.

The security camera system at Mandan High would cost about $6,000 for installing 10 cameras, the digital recording system and the monitor for surveillance.

The security cameras would be donated to the district through the Mandan Police Department from New Vision Security.

Principal Mark Andresen supplied the finance committee with a plan on where to place the cameras. Four would be placed in the cafeteria, one would be placed outside the front entrance, one inside the entrance to monitor visitors, one by the vending machines, two in the east-west hallway and one by the auditorium.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)