Billtown super sees role as bridge to future

By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post

WILLIAMSFIELD – Rolf Sivertsen knows a primary expectation regarding his new job is to leave it as quickly and as seamlessly as possible. That’s fine with him.

“’Steward’ is what I’d call it,” the new Williamsfield School District interim superintendent said. “I’m being trusted by the people in this community to take care of their district to the best of my ability until they can get a replacement in here.”

A former superintendent at Canton and Varna-based Midland, Sivertsen helped oversee his first Williamsfield School Board meeting Monday night. He became interim superintendent July 1 after Tim Farquer assumed the top job at Mercer County.

The Williamsfield board was unable to hire a full-time superintendent before Farquer departed. Sivertsen is limited to 120 days of work. The Illinois Association of School Boards is supervising the new-superintendent search.

Sivertsen’s presence in Billtown also is an IASB product. Last month, he ended about a year and a half of full-time work in the Peoria School District, where he was an assistant transportation director.

The Williamsfield interim gig is not the first one Sivertsen has had. After he retired from Canton three years ago, he was interim superintendent at the Deer Park elementary-school district in LaSalle County.

“I was retired for about three months, then I got bored,” Sivertsen said. “I’m not the type of guy that likes to sit around and play shuffleboard or golf or woodworking. My forte and pleasure in life is helping families and enriching the lives of children. I really get a lot of satisfaction doing that.”

A 1977 graduate of Peoria High School, Sivertsen also has taught and/or been an administrator at Lowpoint-Washburn, Roanoke-Benson and Woodstock. Those jobs weren’t quite like the Williamsfield one, nor like the Deer Park one.

“You’re here for a very short period of time to provide a bridge for the school district from a past superintendent to a new one,” Sivertsen said. “It’s very difficult to acclimate yourself so quickly, and I’m restricted to 120 days, so I have to make sure the time that I spend here is allocated appropriately.

“Hopefully we can get a full-time superintendent that’s going to be a really good seasoned one.”

During the meeting, the board granted Sivertsen permission to prepare a tentative budget for the 2025 fiscal year.

The board also approved hiring Joshua Morris as a science teacher, accepted the retirement of bus driver Richard Staker, authorized the 2024-25 student handbook and OK’d establishing an account at Integrity Community Bank of Williamsfield for the Ralph Norman and Warren Doubet scholarships. Auditors suggested moving the scholarship money out of a district petty-cash account, according to Sivertsen.

Board members are expected to conduct a special meeting July 30 to appoint a new colleague. That person is to replace Gina Strom, who resigned May 9. According to Sivertsen, board vacancies are not to exceed 45 days, but he has alerted the regional office of education that includes Knox County.

“As long as you’re working on it, that’ll be fine,” Sivertsen told the board. “But we probably need to get this fast-tracked and get somebody in here.”

The board opening is to be posted on the district website. There are restrictions regarding in which township the new member resides.