PIERCETON - Whitko Community School Corp. Board of Trustees unanimously approved Jeffrey A. Hendrix as its new superintendent Monday.

Hendrix will assume his duties July 1. Current Superintendent Dr. William Worl is retiring effective June 30.

Hendrix has served as the superintendent assistant at Alexandria Community School Corp. since July 2000. Previously, he was the assistant principal at The School Town of Highland, Highland High School, from July 1997 to June 2000; English teacher/coach at Clark-Pleasant School Corp., Whiteland Community High School, August 1987 to June 1997; teacher of emotionally handicapped/coach at Kokomo-Center School Corp., Bon Air Middle School, 1985 to 1986; and United States history teacher/coach at North Miami School Corp., North Miami High School, from 1984 to 1985.

He received his bachelor's degree in secondary education from Indiana University in 1983, majoring in English with a minor in U.S. history. In 1986, he received his master's degree from I.U. in secondary education. He received his administrative (secondary) license certification from I.U. in 1997 and his Ed.S. in educational leadership from I.U. in 2002. Since 1999, he has been enrolled and working on his dissertation in the doctoral program at I.U., majoring in educational leadership and administration with a minor in educational curriculum.

After approving Hendrix, Whitko School Board chairman Hal Trump said there has been a lot of work put into finding a new superintendent but they believe they selected a good candidate. He thanked everyone involved in the search for the new superintendent.

"I want to thank the board, especially for the way I've been treated," Hendrix said. The board was very professional and followed up with their interviews, he said. "I was very impressed with the school board" as they researched him as much as he researched the Whitko Community School Corp. "I was very impressed with this school corporation."

He said he looked forward to meeting with all the teachers and staff and to moving to the Whitko School Corp. community.

Asked what he liked about the school corporation, he said, "It's very sound financially and it's been run very well over the years." All the buildings have been kept up well from the inside out.

His post as superintendent at Whitko is his first as a superintendent. The pressing issue he said he will need to deal with first is the financial situation because of the state's budget crisis. He also said he will need to continue to look at how the school corporation's achievement tests and academics can continue to be improved.

"Right now, I want to get a feel for the community, the culture." He said he works with the idea that he is part of a team.

One of his first duties as superintendent also will be to hire other new administrators as the director of curriculum, the high school principal and the athletic director are all resigning at the end of this school year. Ideally, he said, he would like to hire candidates who are well read and knowledgeable about curriculum and are "fiscally sound" in their approach to their jobs.

He said he will probably work on hiring the high school principal first and do so with the help of a committee of teachers, staff, students and parents.

Hendrix has a wife, Nancy, and three daughters - Anne, 8, second grade; Sarah, whose 6th birthday is today, will be in kindergarten in the fall; and Kate, 11, sixth grade.

With three daughters who will be in the school corporation, he said, he will be able to get an idea on what's going on in the school corporation through their perspective. Hopefully, he said, he should know what's already going on before they tell him.

But regardless of what schools his daughters are attending, he said, he wants to be involved in all the schools in the school corporation and be accessible to everyone.

Hendrix said, "I will have an open door policy to the community and press." [[In-content Ad]]