The Hopkins Board of Education Wednesday night, after conducting interviews with three candidate finalists, decided to hire Direction of Instruction Scott VanBonn as new superintendent.

After the interviews and extensive deliberation, the board voted unanimously to begin contract negotiations with VanBonn, who will succeed Gary Wood, who retires June 30 after serving nine years as superintendent.

Consultant Mark Dobias of the Michigan Association of School Boards said, ”I deeply appreciated the thoughtful discussion by the board in reaching their decision. The manner in which the board carefully executed one of their most important functions serves as a model of transparency and due diligence.”

The board decided to make the selection local, as all three finalists are currently working in the district. Besides VanBonn, Ken Szczepanski is high school principal and Amy Mielke is principal at Sycamore Elementary.

VanBonn goes even further. He is a 1995 graduate of Hopkins High School who since has served the district as teacher, athletic director, elementary principal and director of instruction.

VanBonn is expected to begin duties officially on July 1.