Community Wants 'Integrity' in New Warsaw Superintendent
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Many of the two dozen people also were in favor of Chief Academic Officer and Assistant Superintendent David Hoffert taking over after Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz retires. Hintz’s retirement is effective June 30.
Representatives of BWP & Associates, which specializes in superintendent searches, led the meeting. Dr. Nick Wahl is the superintendent at Carmel-Clay Schools, and Ron Barnes is a retired superintendent from the Chicago area and a professor emeritus at Indiana University.
At the March board meeting, the school board approved a contract with BWP for $6,000 plus expenses for the leadership profile audit and interviews for internal search. If and when the board does a national search, the expense would be an additional $10,000.
During the day Monday, Wahl and Barnes conducted 16 other stakeholder meetings with about 200 students, civic, business and community leaders, teachers and administrators.
“We always want to do a community meeting for anyone else who wants to come to talk to us today,” Barnes said.
Barnes told Monday night’s participants that they were going to ask them four questions: What’s great about the school corporation and Warsaw? What are those special challenges WCS is faced with as a community and a school corporation? What are those special characteristics and attributes it takes to succeed here? What else should they know to help them help the board do a good job?
After the public meeting, Barnes said they would sit down with the school board and share the common themes that came up from the 17 meetings they conducted. At the end of the night with the board, he said they would come up with 10 to 12 characteristics the community thinks need to be in the next superintendent.
“That becomes a template then for the rest of the search, whether the search stops and an internal candidate is employed, or whether the board says, ‘no, let’s open the search up and we’re going to use these,’” he said.
“The board is always in control of the search. It’s the school board’s search. They’re the elected officials to make this choice,” Barnes said.
When the audience was asked what was so great about WCS, parent Sariah Morgan said her family relocated from a neighboring school system because they couldn’t find any enrichment opportunities there for their children.
“One of the things that has really been valuable to us as a family has been that family element in the schools we have been in. The teachers have been amazing. Every year we continued to be wowed by the teachers and they really care and they really support that family environment,” Morgan said.
Laurie Owen, Grace College School of Education, said the key to the school system is the excellent quality of the teachers and administrators.
Another woman, who only identified herself as a teacher named Julie, said WCS is concerned about getting to know its employees and being invested in them and the students. She also strongly supported the school corporation’s mission statement and said that needed to be continued.
Morgan also was the first to speak up when Barnes asked what the challenges are facing WCS.
“One of the big things I worry about is cohesiveness among the elementary schools,” Morgan said. She wants all students at each of the schools to have equal opportunity. When they get to middle school, she said no one should be able to tell what elementary the students attended.
“It’s important to be a system, not a system of schools,” she said.
Carla Milliman, a 26-year kindergarten teacher at Lincoln, said her elementary building needs replaced.
“In the last few years ... I have seen the push and the support for the Early Childhood Program, especially for kindergarten and going into all-day kindergarten,” Milliman listed as a strength for WCS. The challenge is continuing that, she said. “Now they’re putting preschools into some of the schools. I think the challenge will be to get all those preschools into all of the schools, and I don’t want to see that dropped because I think it’s so important to keep pushing that early childhood.”
Local farmer Gordon Vanator spoke about WCS being in an agricultural community. He said the next superintendent should be a local person because they would understand the community better.
A woman who identified herself as Jane said she was concerned about WCS’s financial situation.
“We’re spending money, lots of it, and some of it is unnecessary,” she said.
She also said that while the orthopedic companies are great, she didn’t want them to take over the curriculum at the schools. She also agreed with Vanator that the school system can’t forget it’s an agriculture community, too.
Wahl said a lot of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiatives taking hold in education now translates well into what’s going on in farming in Indiana.
Jefferson Elementary Principal David Robertson said WCS has experienced some success in the right direction in the last few years and its next leader needs to continue on that path.
Owen added that the next superintendent needs to be a servant and community leader. Longevity also is important to the community, she said, and the next superintendent needs to understand the community.
Jane said she was very “pro” hiring someone locally. When you hire someone from this community, she said they love it and want to be here. The next superintendent needs to have the welfare of the students and the school corporation’s finances in mind, she noted.
An unidentified woman said the great initiatives that have taken place at WCS over the last few years, like Professional Learning Communities, need to continue. She agreed WCS’s mission statement needs to be upheld.
Joye Andrew said Warsaw would appreciate someone with integrity and who is approachable and can communicate well with parents. “Who we’ve had has not been very approachable,” she said.
Another woman said the next superintendent must be knowledgeable and someone who can take Warsaw to the next phase. The person has to be someone that can be trusted.
Jane also said the superintendent needs to be a person of integrity. She noted, “I am probably a conservative. I am not for this alternative lifestyle that is taught in our schools. I am old school.” She said she believes in the Bible and this is a Christian community and she wants someone with “those qualities.”
After several more comments about integrity, the audience began speaking about Hoffert being the next superintendent. Robertson said Hoffert is seen statewide as a leader. Others said Hoffert could fill Hintz’s big shoes and he has a passion for kids. Jennifer Bradley said Hoffert’s wife also is a valuable asset to Hoffert.
Andrew commented, “The common theme is we want to see David Hoffert.”[[In-content Ad]]
Many of the two dozen people also were in favor of Chief Academic Officer and Assistant Superintendent David Hoffert taking over after Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz retires. Hintz’s retirement is effective June 30.
Representatives of BWP & Associates, which specializes in superintendent searches, led the meeting. Dr. Nick Wahl is the superintendent at Carmel-Clay Schools, and Ron Barnes is a retired superintendent from the Chicago area and a professor emeritus at Indiana University.
At the March board meeting, the school board approved a contract with BWP for $6,000 plus expenses for the leadership profile audit and interviews for internal search. If and when the board does a national search, the expense would be an additional $10,000.
During the day Monday, Wahl and Barnes conducted 16 other stakeholder meetings with about 200 students, civic, business and community leaders, teachers and administrators.
“We always want to do a community meeting for anyone else who wants to come to talk to us today,” Barnes said.
Barnes told Monday night’s participants that they were going to ask them four questions: What’s great about the school corporation and Warsaw? What are those special challenges WCS is faced with as a community and a school corporation? What are those special characteristics and attributes it takes to succeed here? What else should they know to help them help the board do a good job?
After the public meeting, Barnes said they would sit down with the school board and share the common themes that came up from the 17 meetings they conducted. At the end of the night with the board, he said they would come up with 10 to 12 characteristics the community thinks need to be in the next superintendent.
“That becomes a template then for the rest of the search, whether the search stops and an internal candidate is employed, or whether the board says, ‘no, let’s open the search up and we’re going to use these,’” he said.
“The board is always in control of the search. It’s the school board’s search. They’re the elected officials to make this choice,” Barnes said.
When the audience was asked what was so great about WCS, parent Sariah Morgan said her family relocated from a neighboring school system because they couldn’t find any enrichment opportunities there for their children.
“One of the things that has really been valuable to us as a family has been that family element in the schools we have been in. The teachers have been amazing. Every year we continued to be wowed by the teachers and they really care and they really support that family environment,” Morgan said.
Laurie Owen, Grace College School of Education, said the key to the school system is the excellent quality of the teachers and administrators.
Another woman, who only identified herself as a teacher named Julie, said WCS is concerned about getting to know its employees and being invested in them and the students. She also strongly supported the school corporation’s mission statement and said that needed to be continued.
Morgan also was the first to speak up when Barnes asked what the challenges are facing WCS.
“One of the big things I worry about is cohesiveness among the elementary schools,” Morgan said. She wants all students at each of the schools to have equal opportunity. When they get to middle school, she said no one should be able to tell what elementary the students attended.
“It’s important to be a system, not a system of schools,” she said.
Carla Milliman, a 26-year kindergarten teacher at Lincoln, said her elementary building needs replaced.
“In the last few years ... I have seen the push and the support for the Early Childhood Program, especially for kindergarten and going into all-day kindergarten,” Milliman listed as a strength for WCS. The challenge is continuing that, she said. “Now they’re putting preschools into some of the schools. I think the challenge will be to get all those preschools into all of the schools, and I don’t want to see that dropped because I think it’s so important to keep pushing that early childhood.”
Local farmer Gordon Vanator spoke about WCS being in an agricultural community. He said the next superintendent should be a local person because they would understand the community better.
A woman who identified herself as Jane said she was concerned about WCS’s financial situation.
“We’re spending money, lots of it, and some of it is unnecessary,” she said.
She also said that while the orthopedic companies are great, she didn’t want them to take over the curriculum at the schools. She also agreed with Vanator that the school system can’t forget it’s an agriculture community, too.
Wahl said a lot of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiatives taking hold in education now translates well into what’s going on in farming in Indiana.
Jefferson Elementary Principal David Robertson said WCS has experienced some success in the right direction in the last few years and its next leader needs to continue on that path.
Owen added that the next superintendent needs to be a servant and community leader. Longevity also is important to the community, she said, and the next superintendent needs to understand the community.
Jane said she was very “pro” hiring someone locally. When you hire someone from this community, she said they love it and want to be here. The next superintendent needs to have the welfare of the students and the school corporation’s finances in mind, she noted.
An unidentified woman said the great initiatives that have taken place at WCS over the last few years, like Professional Learning Communities, need to continue. She agreed WCS’s mission statement needs to be upheld.
Joye Andrew said Warsaw would appreciate someone with integrity and who is approachable and can communicate well with parents. “Who we’ve had has not been very approachable,” she said.
Another woman said the next superintendent must be knowledgeable and someone who can take Warsaw to the next phase. The person has to be someone that can be trusted.
Jane also said the superintendent needs to be a person of integrity. She noted, “I am probably a conservative. I am not for this alternative lifestyle that is taught in our schools. I am old school.” She said she believes in the Bible and this is a Christian community and she wants someone with “those qualities.”
After several more comments about integrity, the audience began speaking about Hoffert being the next superintendent. Robertson said Hoffert is seen statewide as a leader. Others said Hoffert could fill Hintz’s big shoes and he has a passion for kids. Jennifer Bradley said Hoffert’s wife also is a valuable asset to Hoffert.
Andrew commented, “The common theme is we want to see David Hoffert.”[[In-content Ad]]
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