The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Superintendent search down to three
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 15, 2008
The Dexter Board of Education completed a second round of interviews Wednesday with three superintendent finalists.
Advertisement
The district has narrowed it down to three candidates: Nancy Staub, Pinckney Community Schools Assistant Superintendent; Brian Metcalf, Marshall Community Schools Assistant Superintendent; and John Savel, Trenton Public Schools Superintendent.
One of the three will be chosen by the school board on May 28 to replace Superintendent Evelynn Shirk, who will retire in June.
With the $47.9 million bond extension approved by the public by a 1,586-799 vote last week, district officials say that overseeing how that money is invested into the district and curriculum is a key concern when considering a candidate.
Staub, who is completing her 17th year in Pinckney, says she has just that sort of experience, with passage of a $15 million bond in 1996. That money built two new school buildings, among other things.
"I was actively involved in that whole process, from dealing with personnel to finance, working with the superintendent and curriculum, we planned the bond and saw it through," she said Tuesday.
"It was a great time to build those schools, because the cost of steel hadn't yet went up at that point."
Staub lives in the Dexter area and says she is already familiar with the area, which was a big draw for her in pursuing the position.
"What a wonderful, strong, united community it is," she said.
"I am aware of the wonderful community spirit in the area, that people are connected, and that the village council works with the chamber.
"Everyone in the district has a vision of where they want the kids to be, and I would like to be able to take Dexter schools to where they want to go next," Staub added.
She previously worked as a principal at Hamburg Elementary before going to work in Colorado.
"I came back on sabbatical, met my husband, enjoyed being near my family and decided to seek another job here."
Staub listed a number of curriculum initiatives in which she was involved, including a study of student performance data across the entire curriculum.
"We put the benchmarks on 6-foot by 3-foot posters and placed them in all of the schools to show students what they were doing and what they are capable of," Staub said.
One example of how the district has improved during her tenure is an increase in Michigan Educational Assessment Program test scores, from the 70s in 1995 to the 90s this past year.
Metcalf is ending his fourth year in the Marshall district.
He started teaching in East Grand Rapids Public Schools in 1995, where he also coached and chaired the science department.
He was a building principal at Reading Community Schools when the Marshall district hired him to his current post in 2004.
"I'm looking at taking that next step," Metcalf said. "I have a lot of very important experience in human resources, finance, curriculum and coaching.
"I'm currently mentoring our administrators and heading up operations when our superintendent is out of the district."
Metcalf characterized his experience is being that of "making tough decisions."
"Seven years ago, prior to my arrival, the district was in deficit spending ... we had to put together a spending plan in 2002 to get out of that deficit and in 2008 we went (from that) to a 5 percent fund balance."
His district's budget is about $21 million for the current fiscal year with a little over $1 million in the district's coffers.
"With the Michigan economy, negotiating is extremely difficult," Metcalf said.
"We've negotiated all four years with our Marshall Teacher's Association. I think the challenge in Marshall over the past couple of years has been a number of things, including our percentage salary increases and skyrocketing healthcare benefits ... we have an early retirement incentive of $30,000 to $35,000.
"We passed a sinking millage a year ago which was a renewal, basically; we passed our operating millage last week and we're working on a bond issue right now that will be voted on in August for $36 million."
Metcalf attributes success with finances in a district to how the community perceives district leadership.
"If the superintendent is trustworthy and is full of integrity and available for community members and parents, if all of those relationships are positive over a long period of time, then it is going to be much easier to pass a bond issue."
Trenton's Savel, who was last in the Dexter district Tuesday, passed a $37.1 million bond last week as well, after the community rejected two years of previous bond proposals.
When Savel was newer to the district in 2006, the proposal was for a sum closer to the mid-$50 million mark and heavily focused on technology improvements similar to those in Dexter's recently successful bond.
His trimmed-down bond proposal passed by a 2-to-1 margin last week.
"During my career I have established myself as an educational leader," Savel's resume cover letter states. "I have been successful in all of my administrative positions, including my current position as superintendent of Trenton Public Schools."
Savel, 56, declined to make any comments at this time about his application, though he did say, "Trenton is wonderful place" and he loves the district, which he's been leading for nearly four years.
Trenton Mayor Gerald Brown said Dexter School Board President Larry Cobler contacted him last week about Savel.
Brown said he gave a favorable review of the superintendent because he accomplished all of the goals for which he was hired.
Besides the passage of the bond proposal, Savel also helped settle the teachers' union contract and improve students' MEAP scores, Brown said.
According to Savel's letter, the district has had a balanced budget for the past two years and expects to balance the upcoming budget.
Other accomplishments he listed are replacing board policies and administrative regulations; creating and implementing an evaluation process for administrators, including himself, and buildings and technology; switching to trimesters at Trenton High School for 2008-09; and expanding district communication with the community.
Savel earned his doctorate in educational leadership and curriculum from Eastern Michigan University in 1997.
Before coming to Trenton, he was the executive director of secondary instruction for the Chippewa Valley Schools in Clinton Township.
Cobler said Tuesday that he was pleased with how the process was coming along.
"Originally we thought we would narrow it down to two people on Saturday, but we felt that we needed more time to gather information, so we brought all three back" he said.
"I think the board is pretty happy with the group that we have and feel pretty confident that we will be able to select a good superintendent out of that group."
Cobler said that the board will be conducting site visits Monday through Wednesday to narrow it down further from Dexter's "three strong candidates."
Heritage Newspapers staff writer Francesca Chilargi contributed to this story.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
