To say Rob Friesen’s had a full plate during his tenure as superintendent of Okarche Public Schools might be an understatement. Now he’s passing that plate to someone else. Friesen informed school staff members Monday that he’d accepted the same position at the Thomas-Fay-Custer school district. “I wanted to make sure they heard it from me and not somewhere or someone else,” said Friesen, who is in his seventh year at Okarche. During that time, Friesen has seen and dealt with a lot. There was the sudden and tragic death of beloved Elementary Principal David Vallerand early in the 2016 school year. During that time, Friesen and the school board were in the midst of asking voters to pass a massive $26 million bond issue. Once voters did approve that, there were the years of construction of a new elementary, gymnasium and more that followed. On the personnel side, Friesen was tasked with replacing legendary girls basketball coach Cherie Myers, who stepped down after the 2017 season after winning more than 800 games and five state championships (three at Okarche) during her career. Then, just before this school year started, there was the death of another legendary coach, Ray West. “And we were flat-out broke when I got here,” Friesen added. “It’s been a pretty full plate, but you don’t think of it like that when you’re dealing with it. You just deal with it.” Okarche Board of Education President Stephanie Jeffrey was part of the board who hired Friesen for his first superintendent’s job. “Considering he’s only been here seven years, he’s dealt with quite a bit,” she said. Jeffrey recalled some of the fi nancial decisions that had to be made by Friesen almost immediately. “We thought we had some money coming in and we didn’t,” she said. “There was hardly any carryover. He had to make some hard decisions right off the bat, especially considering he’d never been a superintendent before.” But, Jeffrey said, Friesen was at the forefront of getting Okarche through the fi nancial crisis and he did so in a professional manner. “One thing he always made sure of was that we weren’t going to let the students know any of that was going on,” she said. Okarche now sits in prime fi nancial position, is fully staffed and adding programs. Friesen insists none of the “tough times” led to his decision to accept the position at Thomas, an offer that was extended to him last month. Friesen grew up in Custer and the family farm he frequents is still there. “Okarche has been great to me and my family,” Friesen said. “I’m leaving for no other reason than the opportunity to go home.” The Okarche board did its best to prevent it. After Thomas made what Friesen called an attractive offer, the Okarche board held a special meeting on Dec. 19 “to discuss the employment and contractual terms” of Friesen. “We did make an offer for him to stay,” Jeffrey said. However, she understands and accepts his reason for leaving Okarche. “I’d be more upset if he was leaving Okarche just to leave,” she said. “I don’t mean to speak for the entire board, but I think we all understand he isn’t leaving here because he’s unhappy.” Jeffrey noted the district is also losing a quality second grade teacher in Friesen’s wife, Rachelle. “We hate to see her go, too,” Jeffrey said. “She’s been a great addition as well.” Friesen won’t be “going home” for several more months. “I will finish out the year here,” he said.

“The plan is to take care of everything at Okarche that I can.

“I certainly don’t want to burn any bridges here because Okarche has been a great place for my family. I couldn’t see myself leaving here unless I was going home.”

Jeffrey said the district started advertising the opening Tuesday morning. She said there’s not a specific time frame to hire Friesen’s replacement.

She feels the position should be an attractive one, more so than when Friesen was brought on board.

“We’ve a brand new elementary, a brand new gym and essentially a new high school,” she said. “And we’re in much better fi nancial shape. I hope it will be an attractive job.”