In a stunning reversal of expectations,  Whitefish School Superintendent Kate Orozco on Monday night changed her recommendation not to renew the contract of Whitefish High School Principal Dave Carlson.

The Whitefish School Board then voted in favor of Orozco's recommendation to keep Carlson on the job.

The decision came after two hours of emotional testimony at a special board meeting and was made after the print edition of the Daily Inter Lake already had gone to press.

Dozens of students, along with parents, teachers and community members, begged the board to keep Carlson, citing his accomplishments and connections to the students.

The decision to renew Carlson's contract will give him tenure.

Orozco told the crowd that she hoped she and Carlson could work together.

"I can't stand here and say I'm willing to ignore the voice of our kids. I can ignore misinformation," she said after noting that some misleading information had been circulating through the community.

Orozco never divulged why she wanted to let Carlson go.

The turnaround at the board meeting capped an intense day in Whitefish schools that began with a sit-in Monday morning by students at Whitefish High School.  

Carrying signs that said “Save Mr. Carlson,” students filled the high school foyer. Carlson briefly addressed the students and asked them to get to class, at which point the crowd disbanded.

Carlson said Monday morning that he was shocked when he learned Orozco had recommended that the school board not renew his contract.

“No one saw it coming,” he said. 

Carlson said he was given a list of objectives when he was hired in 2009 and he believes he has achieved everything that was asked of him.

Specifically, the school board wanted Carlson to repair public relations with the community in light of two previous failed high school bond requests.

He was directed to take the lead and help get the $14 million bond request passed for the reconstruction of the aging high school. The bond request passed handily earlier this year.

Carlson said he also was told to “hold staff and teachers accountable,” and to that end has worked on curriculum and ways to have the staff collaborate and meet with each other.

Another directive was to build a positive rapport with the students. 

To that end he established a Facebook page for the high school, reinstituted the annual homecoming parade after a long hiatus and developed a parent advisory group. Carlson said he also had the staff create a vision-in-mission statement for the high school.

“I am proud of the work I have done for our students, our community and our new high school,” he said.

The proposal not to renew Carlson’s contract came as a surprise to most people in Whitefish.

Retired Whitefish businessman and state Sen. Bob DePratu, who helped lead the “Vote Yes Whitefish” campaign to win voter approval of the high school bonds, said he was surprised by the news.

“It looked like he was doing a good job,” DePratu said of Carlson. “He seemed enthused, knowledgeable and had good suggestions” about the reconstruction project.

Whitefish PTA President Miriam Lewis said she, too, was “caught completely off-guard” about the proposal to remove Carlson as principal.

Before coming to Whitefish, Carlson served as principal and director at the Learning Alternative Community School in Spring Lake Park, Minn.

After 23 years in private industry, serving as a president and general manager in the propane and gas supply business, Carlson changed careers at age 40, earning his master's degree in teaching from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. He received his administrative licensure in 2000 from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.

He worked 14 years in education as a teacher, assistant principal and principal/director before taking the Whitefish job.

At the time of Carlson’s hiring, then-Superintendent Jerry House praised Carlson’s credentials, saying his expertise “clearly singled him out as the outstanding candidate.”