Over the years, school districts in North Dakota counties have consolidated into bigger school districts as populations have dwindled. One-room schools counted as school districts, which is how Williams County had nearly 100, said Grant Archer, county superintendent of schools.
County school superintendents were needed more in the past because not every district had its own superintendent. Consolidation has lessened the need for a county superintendent.
This year, Williams County joins other North Dakota counties as it dissolve its county school superintendent office and shifts the duties elsewhere.
Archer's retirement next month is in sync with the county's decision to dissolve the office. At the county commission's Jan. 12, 2009 meeting, Archer asked the commission to begin planning for what it wants to do with the office once he retires. As for the decision to dissolve the position, "I expected it. I was part of figuring out what responsibilities would go where," Archer said.
Archer has been the county superintendent of schools since July 1, 1986. He was first appointed to the position to finish out a term of office. He was then elected for four years, and afterward it was decided the position would be appointed.
Archer said he was interested in the position because it was an opportunity to be in education while doing something different than teaching. He graduated from Valley City High School in 1965 and attended Valley City State College for two years before joining the Air Force.
After four years in the Air Force, Archer returned to college and earned a degree in education with concentrations in history and physical education in 1972. He taught sixth grade at Williston's Lewis and Clark Elementary School for four years, and also taught at Wilkinson and McVay schools.
He made a brief career change and was an independent oil and gas land man. After that, he was appointed as the Williams County superintendent of schools to complete Cleo Furuseth's term of office.
"I knew it was a fit for me because it was an opportunity to again work with students. I was excited to still be involved in education," he said.
When he began as county superintendent of schools, there were nine school districts: Williston Public School District 1, New Public School District 8, Nesson School District 2 in Ray, 8-Mile School District in Trenton, Grenora School District and districts in Epping, Wildrose and Alamo. The Epping, Wildrose and Alamo school districts have since dissolved, Archer said.
As county superintendent, his duties include keeping budget records for each school district, calculating tuition for schools, keeping track of when school-district boundaries change and apportioning oil revenue to each district based upon their average daily attendance counts. These duties are to be dispersed among other county departments once the office is officially dissolved.
The county superintendent position isn't the only hat Archer has worn for the county. From 2000 until early this year, he was also the building manager. George Pederson took over the position six months ago.
"It kept me on my toes. I thoroughly enjoyed that," Archer said of being the building manager.
He was part of many building projects in the county, and one in particular stands out in his mind -- the Great Flood of 2004.
At that time, the jail was on the third floor of the courthouse, and a prisoner had stuffed toilet paper in a toilet, causing it to overflow and flood all three floors of the courthouse. As a result, the east and north wings of the courthouse were rebuilt.
"We got great offices because of it, but we were crowded for a while," Archer said.
Archer has decided to continue with his third county position as public administrator. He has enjoyed his time working with the county commission, which he said has been supportive of the superintendent of schools office. He recommends working for county government to anyone who would like to work in government.
"It truly has been a wonderful experience to work at the county level. County government is exciting; I've enjoyed it," he said.
He will miss working with county and school employees in his capacity as superintendent of schools. And most of all, he'll miss working with his assistant, Shirley Hutchins.
"I'll miss the day-to-day contact with Shirley. We've been a team. I'm sure we'll have coffee, but I certainly won't see her on a day-to-day basis," he said.
Archer and his wife, Marylyn, live in Williston. They have two sons, Sean of Crosby and Seth of Fargo.
An open house in honor of Archer and Hutchins, who is retiring after 36 years of service, is from 2-4 p.m. on July 31 in the EOC conference room on the second floor of the Williams County Law Enforcement Center in Williston.
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