Long Prairie school board members bring superintendent back into fold — but remain tight-lipped about turmoil

After placing its superintendent on leave — and hiring an interim superintendent in his stead — the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle school board has approved two contracts with the leader it put on “special assignment” last fall.

The action was made possible by voters in November — who ousted a school board incumbent who had led the charge against Superintendent Dan Ludvigson — and voted in five candidates who promised to bring Ludvigson back.

But while many of the school board members have changed, the caginess surrounding Ludvigson’s leave remains the same.

“Sorry it’s taken so long. It’s unprecedented,” said Chuck Wolf, board treasurer, at Monday’s meeting. “We had a lot of legal work to do.”

In January, at the first regular meeting since the new board members were sworn in, the members voted to let Ludvigson back onto school grounds and directed a committee to begin negotiating a new contract with Ludvigson, who started at the district in 2022.

The first contract approved Monday was an amendment to Ludvigson’s contract that expires in June. It lays out how duties will be divided between Ludvigson and interim Superintendent Doug Froke, who led the Detroit Lakes school district for 13 years before retiring.

The second contract is a one-year extension that expires in 2026 and includes a 2% raise. Ludvigson had signed both contracts before the meeting, Wolf said.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Ludvigson declined to comment.

The contracts were not included with agenda materials but Board Chair Linda Gohman read details from the amended contract at the meeting. It directs Ludvigson to meet weekly with Froke to “exchange information as to all school district projects and proceedings pertinent to the ongoing operations of the district.”

The contract also dictates Ludvigson attend weekly meetings between Froke and building principals but states Ludvigson will not direct meetings and should be “in attendance in a listening and advisory capacity to the extent the interim superintendent solicits his input.”

Beginning in June, Ludvigson will “shadow the interim superintendent” at the district office and attend the June 20 meeting. His new contract begins July 1.

The contracts were approved on a 5-2 vote; board members Tanja Levin and Lisa Wright voted against the motion.

At the meeting, Levin asked multiple times if Gohman or other board members were apprehensive about bringing Ludvigson back as a leader.

“I will publicly say that I am concerned about a liability with the information that we all have of bringing Mr. Ludvigson back into our school,” she said.

Last fall, the school board voted to not renew Ludvigson’s contract and remove him as superintendent — a move that Jerry Von Korff, an attorney who previously represented Ludvigson, said was illegal. Von Korff said a board cannot hire two superintendents and must properly charge the current one of wrongdoing in a private meeting, which didn’t happen.

The effort to remove Ludvigson prompted a student walkout in support of the superintendent.

A data request made to the district shows Ludvigson received a written reprimand in May 2023 alleging he broke data-privacy rules. He was also placed on a three-day paid suspension in April 2024 for reportedly raising his voice and tearing up a piece of paper during a meeting, which intimidated board members, the document states.

During his leave, Ludvigson was barred from school grounds unless the visit was necessary for his children’s education. The district also confiscated his computer.

Board members still seem tight-lipped about the situation. Reached by phone, Gohman declined to comment. At the meeting, she told Levin the district’s attorney was “fine” with the contracts and cut off Levin’s questioning because the discussion was “going nowhere.”

The next board meeting is April 21.