Pictured is Krause being sworn into office at Tuesday’s board of education meeting by Kristin Irwin, Clymer district clerk. Submitted photo

CLYMER — Karen Krause and Kirby Oldham are in familiar territory.

Krause and Oldham recently took over in the Clymer Central School District as interim superintendent and interim principal, respectively. In 2018, the duo did the same for the Ripley Central School District.

Krause succeeds Ed Bailey and Oldham follows Corey Markham. Both previous administrators announced their resignations in September leaving potential vacancies. However, the Clymer Central School Board of Education quickly approved the new interim administrators at recent meetings.

In Ripley, both succeeded Lauren Ormsby, who served as both superintendent and principal before resigning. Eventually, current Ripley Superintendent William Caldwell and current principal Micah Oldham were hired in Ripley, effectively relieving the interim employees.

Krause, not a stranger to the field, previously served as Ripley’s superintendent from 2010 to 2013 in full capacity.

“We worked together to rebuild relationships, define roles, and improve instruction, procedures and processes to bring sustainability and stability to the district,” Krause said of the duo’s previous roles.

Krause noted that the two administrators work well together because they both “value education and care about people” as well as wanting “teachers to succeed and students to achieve.”

Krause was officially sworn in at Monday’s regular meeting.

Clymer will continue its superintendent and principal search as Krause and Oldham fill in on a temporary basis.

Simultaneously, the school district is exploring options of shared services with its neighboring school districts, Panama and Sherman. The Clymer board sent letters to both individual districts seeking interest in shared services and a potential merger down the line, if necessary. Tentative agreements were made from Panama and Sherman school officials to hold separate meetings with Clymer representatives.

Krause clarified recently that the conversation will specifically be on shared services at first, and other options the district may consider will come second.

A referendum ballot included on the school district’s 2019-20 budget revote in June listed potential pathways for voters to choose from.

For a potential merger, the proposition received a vote of 691 to 278 in favor. For utilizing shared services, the community voted 770 to 185 in favor. The redistricting and tuitioning students propositions were received unfavorably — by a vote of 377 to 531 against and 351 to 562 against, respectively.

In the meantime, the interim administrators will serve Clymer as they did Ripley once before, marking the second time in two years the duo has assisted a school district in need.

“Once again working as interims, our roles at Clymer will be similar. I will handle matters at the district level, lead the search and interview process to hire a principal, and work with our neighboring districts to explore ways to share. Kirby (Oldham) will provide staff training and work with teachers and students,” Krause said. ” I recommended that the BOE hire Kirby (Oldham) as an interim principal to allow time for a proper search for a principal, and to benefit from his expertise as a staff trainer. Similar to Ripley, there have been changes at CCS, and I believe Kirby’s skillset and calming, caring personality will be of help to staff and students. We work well together as a team and hope to help clarify roles, practices, procedures, and to keep things moving forward in a positive direction while we are here at Clymer.”

She said the duo’s primary focus will be to improve and strengthen what’s working in Clymer while identifying target areas that are not “running effectively and efficiently.”