Albert Lea Superintendent Mike Funk was not selected as the new superintendent for Shakopee Public Schools.

The Shakopee school board Monday unanimously voted to offer the job to Goodhue Schools Superintendent Mike Redmond.

“I wish him the best,” Funk said. “As I stated before I interviewed, we have a strong team in Albert Lea, and we will continue to move forward. We have accomplished much in the past decade, with more success to come.”

According to Shakopee Valley News, the board will enter into negotiations with Redmond and likely approve a contract in November.

Redmond was a finalist with Superintendent Gary Anger in 2017 for the Shakopee superintendent position. He has been superintendent for Goodhue for the past five years. Prior to that, Redmond was the executive director of secondary education for Stillwater Area Public Schools, where he led the Teaching and Learning Department and supervised the secondary principals.

According to the newspaper, before voting to offer the job to Redmond, the board discussed whether members felt comfortable moving forward with an offer. More than 50 teachers, staff and administrators were directly involved in interviewing Redmond and Funk, and board members collectively received hundreds of emails, text messages and phone calls with feedback from community members.

The newspaper said board Chairman Scott Swanson added that Funk “unfortunately … did not make a good impression” with a few individuals at the district.

“I am concerned that is not a single comment, and there are also others that had that feedback,” Swanson said in the article. “Feedback is critical, and the amount of feedback we heard internally … was very, very important.”

According to the newspaper, the board also received more than a dozen letters of strong recommendation for Funk. The letters came from parents in the Albert Lea district and a couple of Shakopee residents who know him from his time in the military.

“As an individual who continuously tries to improve education, not everyone is going to agree with the direction we are heading,” Funk said. “If they do not agree, sometimes they leave and end up in places like Shakopee.

“Shakopee used an open process that solicited feedback from anyone with an opinion. Unfortunately they did not check one professional reference in the entire process.”