UPDATE: (ABC 6 News) – After hours of deliberations Tues. evening within the Byron Public School Board, members decided to extend an offer to their only remaining candidate as the district’s next superintendent.

Nate Walbruch, the current supt. at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Public Schools, was the only person interviewed by the school board Tues. afternoon. Dr. Michelle Mortensen, the other finalist candidate, dropped out of the running before the meeting. Her name was removed from the agenda before the board came together.

Just before 10 p.m., board members offered Walbruch the job, but he says he will have to consider it. Walbruch says he will have an answer by Thurs. afternoon and thanked the board for the offer.

The offer came after about four and a half hours of deliberation by the school board, who were split on whether they felt Walbruch was right for the job.

Some board members were impressed by Walbruch’s plan to campaign for a referendum, which the district will most likely seek in November, after previous budgetary blunders left the district in dire financial straits.

They also desire his experience dealing with school financials, as they are currently still seeking a permanent Financial Director.

However, other board members were unsatisfied with some of the answers he gave in his interview, and speculated his history of not staying long in his previous positions might indicate he will leave Byron after the three years of his initial contract are fulfilled.

The decision to extend an offer to Walbruch was further complicated by a community petition with over 600 signatures to reconsider eliminated candidate Abe Rodemeyer, current principal of Byron Primary School.

The board has also received many emails in the last few days asking them to reconsider Rodemeyer for the role. While the board values all the feedback they’ve gotten, it wasn’t enough to convince everyone to bring him back for another interview, with a motion to do so failing in a 3-4 vote.

Board members weighed the option of reopening the pool for more applicants, but hesitated out of fears it might cause Walbruch to withdraw his name from the hat and uncertainty they’d find other applicants they like more.

Though an initial motion to extend an offer to Walbruch failed due to no members seconding it, eventually the board voted 4-3 to offer him the job and reopen applications if he chooses not to accept.

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(ABC 6 News) – The Byron school district will hold its final interviews for its next superintendent on Tuesday after narrowing the search down to three candidates last week.

Related: Candidates for Byron’s next Supt. narrowed to 3

That list of candidates may now be down to two after Dr. Steven Heil was selected by Albert Lea Area Schools on Monday night as the district’s next superintendent.

Related: Albert Lea School Board selects district’s next superintendent

With Dr. Heil out of the running, that leaves Dr. Michelle Mortensen and Nate Walbruch for the Byron position.

The final round of interviews will happen Tuesday at 4 p.m. All interviews will be held at Byron High School and are open to the public.

On Monday, ABC 6 News learned of a new petition that has been started to support Abe Rodemeyer as the new superintendent in Byron.

Rodemeyer is currently the elementary school principal who had been a finalist for the position before being eliminated. The petition has nearly 600 signatures as of Tuesday morning.