Jerry Jensen retired as superintendent of Lake City School District, but he recently started as the part-time superintendent of the United South Central School District.

“I think a superintendent today is a pretty complex position, and I think you really need to approach situations, and be able to read situations and decide what the best approach would be,” Jensen said.

Jensen said his style of being a superintendent is based largely on being able to adapt to different situations. Usually, Jensen will try to make a decision based on input from all those involved, but he said there are times when it’s important to make quick decisions.

“Sometimes I often feel like a superintendent is a bit of a chameleon, you’re having to change your style to kind of match the environment that you’re in at a particular time. Not that you’re wishy-washy, it’s just you have to find the most effective approach to the problem. I’m hoping that that’s what I try to do, because I think that’s the most effective way to do it,” Jensen said.

When Jensen needs to seek advice on a situation, he can often turn to family: two of Jensen’s brothers are active superintendents in Minnesota,

“It’s nice to have a colleague that you really can trust,” Jensen added.

All three are a part of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators. That group told Jensen they have no prior record of three brothers serving as superintendents at the same time.

Jensen grew up on a small potato farm near Stephen in the Red River Valley. Of his parents six children, half became superintendents.

“My parents were not educators, but we ended up having three of us going into education, and then three ending up being superintendents, which was kind of strange. My mother — she couldn’t ever quite figure out what it was that ended up having us all gravitate toward one position,” Jensen said.

Jensen was the first brother to become a superintendent. Allan is the superintendent of the Ashby School District near Alexandria, and Bruce is a superintendent in Kittson Central School District, which is in the very northwest corner of the state.

“We’re kind of spread out on all the different ends. Some people claim that any closer concentration of Jensen brothers would not be a positive thing. I don’t know if that’s true or not,” Jensen joked.

“Unfortunately for people around us, the topics are usually education related,” he added.

Jensen, Allan and Bruce are also all motorcycle riders, and the three took a motorcycle trip to Niagara Falls before Jensen started in USC.

Last year Keith Klein and John Widvey both served as superintendent for part of the school year.

Jensen started July 1, and will work part time, and he’ll work three days a week. Those days will often be Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but he said those days aren’t set in stone. He’ll work other days some weeks, and he’ll work four or two days some weeks.

Jensen is 58 years old, and his salary in USC will be around $75,000 a year. Jensen said it’s beneficial for the district to hire a retired superintendent like Jensen, because there are no benefits like health insurance or a retirement plan.

USC is currently in statutory operating debt. Last year, the school district developed a three-year plan to get out of debt, and Jensen said his goal is to implement that plan. That is increasingly challenging because of the delayed payments, as determined by the Legislature.

One of the first things Jensen is working to do is become familiar with the 2009-10 budget, and he’s working to understand the district policy.

Especially in a part-time role, Jensen said it’s important for him to be visible in the community and at things like football games and other school events.

He is currently working to get to know the community, and he plans to be involved with clubs like the Lions in Wells.

He said it is important for him to be known in the district communities outside of Wells, like Bricelyn, Easton, Freeborn, Kiester and Walters, though that can be difficult.

“But that doesn’t help the Bricelyns and the Kiesters,” Jensen said of being involved in things like the Lions. “It kind of gets me connected here, but it really doesn’t connect me well in the outlying communities, and I think that’s always a problem. I don’t know how you do that effectively. It’s something that I’m thinking about.”

It may be challenging since certain towns in the district don’t have a school presence in the town. Jensen said this was similar in Lake City, but he said the schools in USC have closed more recently, like Kiester.

“There are more challenges in getting people to accept those decisions and try and move forward in a more unified fashion as a district,” Jensen said.

Before becoming the superintendent in Wells, Jensen was superintendent of Lake City School District from 1992 until he retired in 2007.

Jensen attended Minnesota State University in Moorhead, and he then got his masters and six-year certificate in school administration from Winona State University. He earned his doctorate through the University of St. Thomas.

Jensen spent the first 20 years of his career in the Goodhue School District. He started in 1972 as a high school math teacher for six years before becoming the high school principal for another six years later. He then served as superintendent of Goodhue School District for eight years.

Jensen said the area of the Goodhue School District compares to USC because both are largely agricultural areas.

After retiring in 2007, Jensen took a few years off and then worked as a consultant, and he worked with a financial consulting group. But he said he was called back to work as a superintendent.

Jensen and his wife, Susan, still live in Lake City, but Jensen has an apartment in Wells.

Jensen has two daughters. The younger is Kristie, who’s attending school at the Minnesota State University in Mankato. Jensen’s oldest daughter Jamie, her husband Brad and Jensen’s granddaughter Madelyn live in Oakdale. 

Aside from riding a motorcycle, Jensen picked up golfing during the first few years of his retirement. He also enjoys fishing, hunting and boating. Jensen also has a love for in-line skating, which he does on trails along the Mississippi River in the Lake City area.

Despite the financial challenges Jensen and the USC School District are working to overcome, Jensen said he’s confident in the district’s future.

“From what I’ve seen here, the district may be struggling financially, there may be some challenges in the district, but the students performed very well on the state tests, and that tells me that there’s a lot of good things happening with parent involvement, students.”