PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s education secretary is leaving his post this summer to take a school superintendent’s job in Wisconsin.
Don Kirkegaard said Tuesday he will step down as secretary of the South Dakota Department of Education in July. Kirkegaard says he has accepted a job as superintendent of schools for the West Bend School District in West Bend, Wisconsin.
Kirkegaard has been South Dakota’s secretary of education since December. He says he’s had the privilege to serve his entire career in South Dakota public education.
Gov. Dennis Daugaard praised Kirkegaard, saying he accepted the job “knowing it would be for a short time, but his service has been critical.”
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Deputy Education Secretary Mary Stadick Smith will serve as interim secretary for the remainder of the Daugaard administration, which ends in January.