William Caldwell, superintendent of the Ripley School District. P-J photo by Jordan Patterson

RIPLEY — The Ripley Board of Education announced and approved Thursday that William Caldwell will be the district’s new superintendent.

Caldwell is currently the Frewsburg High School Principal.

Ripley began it’s official superintendent search process in May with assistance by Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES District Superintendent David O’Rourke.

Bob Bentley, Ripley board of education president, said he was optimistic about the district’s future going forward.

Bentley said there were “great candidates” interviewed during the search process, but admitted that Caldwell was the ideal candidate.

“The support for (Caldwell) was the strongest from all of the six committees,” Bentley said. “He had a very strong presence in his interviews.”

Earlier this month, the Ripley school district held a budget revote where residents voted down the proposed budget 264 to 106. The proposal was an identical budget to the first proposed back in May which failed by way of a 91-90 vote.

On Thursday, Bentley said he regretted taking the same budget back to voters but was confident, at the time, that the board would have been able to sway residents in between the original vote and the revote.

“We wanted the budget we put forward and thought we could pick up a couple votes,” he said.

Caldwell accepts the new superintendent position following the resignation of Lauren Ormsby in February. She was also the school principal.

Caldwell shook hands of the board following his approval and addressed the audience in attendance at the special board meeting.

He emphasized that he will bring an “open-door policy” to the district so that staff and faculty will be able to communicate with the superintendent directly.

“I operate 100 percent on an open-door policy and I intend to continue that,” he said. “My door will be open at anytime.”

Caldwell told The Post-Journal he understood the current situation in Ripley and that he has experience working in a district that is operating on a contingency budget.

Caldwell stressed his primary goals were earning the trust of the district and then firguring out the necessary cuts to meet the needs of the contingency budget.

“I’m very excited to be here in Ripley,” Caldwell said to those in attendance.

Prior to Caldwell’s appointment, the board of education thanked Kirby Oldham, interim-principal, for taking the position in February as he finished his final day in that capacity on Thursday.

Bentley thanked Oldham for assuming the role of interim-principal.

“We do appreciate your efforts,” Bentley said. “You came here in a time of need in Ripley and you stayed, and you really helped us in a tough moment in our history.”

Oldham will be succeeded by his son, Micah Oldham. Micah Oldham was approved at the previous board meeting.

Kirby Oldham said his time as interim-principal was an honor.

” I love this school. I love this staff,” he said. “You’ve got a great system here.”