Blue Earth Area School District superintendent Evan Gough is leaving the district after having been the leader at the school for the last six and a half years.

Gough will become the new superintendent at the Goodhue School District beginning on Jan. 1, 2019.

Gough was one of three finalists interviewed for the position on Friday, Nov. 9, in Goodhue. Last Tuesday evening, Nov. 13, the Goodhue School Board met and voted to offer the position to Gough.

They did so and Gough accepted it on Wednesday morning and then informed the staff and BEA School Board of his decision.

The actual contract still has to have Goodhue School Board approval. The BEA School Board will also need to accept Gough’s resignation. That may or may not happen at the School Board meeting set for this Monday, Nov. 19.

Gough says leaving BEA, which will not happen until the end of December, is a bitter sweet situation.

“I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish here at Blue Earth Area over the last six and a half years,” Gough says. “We really have an incredible school system here. And that is mainly due to the dedicated and amazing staff here at Blue Earth Area, as well as the supportive parents and members of the community.”

Gough says the decision to go to Goodhue was a personal one.

“My wife, Amy, and I lived near Goodhue, in Red Wing, before we came to Blue Earth,” he says. “I was an assistant principal in Red Wing. So, we have a number of friends in that area. And, Amy has family members in Rochester.”

Gough said it was very difficult to have to inform the staff last Wednesday morning of his decision and called it one of the hardest things he has had to do.

The position of superintendent at Goodhue opened up when their superintendent, Dr. Mike Redmond, took the similar position in Shakopee.

According to a story in the Red Wing Republican-Eagle, Redmond will split his time from now until Jan. 1, between Goodhue and Shakopee.

Goodhue School District voters just passed a $20.1 million referendum for a construction project at the school during the Nov. 6 election. Currently there are 680 students in a facility that is designed to handle 638.

A similar referendum vote last May on a larger project in Goodhue failed to pass.

The Blue Earth School Board could discuss the upcoming process to find a new superintendent during their meeting on Monday, Nov. 19. However, the School Board has called a special meeting for Tuesday, Nov. 20, for the express purpose of officially approving the resignation of Superintendent Evan Gough.