Greater Clark County Schools board gets its guy

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May 20, 2009

6-1 vote gives Daeschner superintendent post

By TARA HETTINGER The News and Tribune Wed May 20, 2009, 07:38 PM EDT

In a 6-1 vote, Greater Clark County Schools board members approved Stephen Daeschner as superintendent this morning, effective July 1.

The lone no vote came from Christina Gilkey, who said she’s against the way the board plans to pay his agreed upon $225,000 salary for three years, calling it “fiscally irresponsible.”

Gilkey said fellow board members have proposed supplementing what Greater Clark can pay with community donations to reach the total. She said she understands that those donations will be a one-time occurrence and is worried what will happen for the other two years in his contract or if those donations will be pulled out if a certain decision upsets contributors.

“We’re on the line for that regardless if the money is raised or not,” Gilkey said.

She also said this salary will make Daeschner the highest-paid superintendent in the state, surpassing the Indianapolis Public Schools superintendent who makes about $194,000 a year and has more than 34,000 students, and a Fort Wayne superintendent that makes about $500 more annually than the IPS leader. Greater Clark has almost 11,000 students, according to the Indiana Department of Education.

The Evening News attempted to confirm Gilkey’s figures with a state superintendent organization, but did not hear back by press time.

“I don’t see where there’s any way we can justify spending that amount of money on one-third of the students,” she added.

Missy DeArk, board secretary, spoke up at the meeting saying that today is an historic day for Clark County.

“Today, the Greater Clark County school board is sending a very strong and serious message, first and foremost to our kids and also to parents, faculty, administration and staff at Greater Clark County Schools and to the community at large that we mean business when it comes to the education of students at Greater Clark County Schools.

“Today is a new beginning for the future of Greater Clark County Schools.”

DeArk also thanked those who helped in the process along the way, including family members of the board, people who encouraged the board during this process and those who are helping pay for the position.

“ ... also, to those who had the faith in our kids to support our decision financially is unprecedented in our state and without whom today would not be possible. To all of you, we thank you.” DeArk said.

Daeschner will be leaving his job as superintendent at Indian Prairie District 204 in Illinois, where he would have made $266,235 as of July 1, the third and final year of his contract, according to The Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper. His contract with Greater Clark is written up, but had yet to be signed as of press time this morning. Daeschner is expected to do that later today. His start date would be July 1, according to Gilkey.

On Tuesday, Daeschner met with students, staff members and the public during three separate sessions. The evening session at St. Stephen Church, in Jeffersonville, drew in fewer than 50 people, who were allowed to submit questions for Daeschner.

He was asked about what he would do to help schools make Adequate Yearly Progress, what his take on discipline is and more.

For the first issue, he said he plans to use data and systematic thinking to come up with solutions.

As for discipline, he said if the instruction is rich and kids are motivated and challenged, there will be fewer to act out. Though, he said that’s tough in this day and age. He said more teacher and student interaction helps reduce bad behavior, and professional development for teachers on how to handle various situations and students can help as well.

He added that he is in favor of Greater Clark’s Wednesday late-start schedule, where teachers have one hour of professional development before school and classes start later. That was implemented this school year.

He also was asked about his position on alternative schools.

“Do you believe all kids can learn in a school setting of a thousand? Some kids are not a morning person ... We’ve got some kids that don’t fit that model,” Daeschner said. “I’m a great believer in alternative schools.”

He said the school system has to discover the needs of students and meet those needs, such as with having alternative schools within established schools.

His comments created mixed reactions from those attending.

“I hope he lives up to what he said and if he does, I think Greater Clark could have some changes happen that are needed desperately,” said Nick Wiese, president of the teachers’ union.

“I like him. I am impressed with what he had to say,” said Regina Oglesby, who teaches at Jeffersonville High School. “I think he can help us. He has some good ideas. I hope he can help us.”

“I would like for him to be more specific in his answers,” said Jerry White, whose four children went through Greater Clark’s system. “We all know we need to do this, but we need to know how we do this? How do we get there?”

But White isn’t ready to decide on how he feels on Daeschner yet.

“I will be watching how things progress six months to one year from now and forming my own evaluation, like everyone should be doing,” he added.

Board member Becka Christensen said though she was disappointed with the turnout at the public session, all three meetings had the full attention of the audience, which she took as a good sign.

“I am proud,” she said, grinning.

She said she hopes Daeschner can help get the county as well as communities across the river working together and merging to combine ideas and come up with ways to save money, such as by lowering costs by getting discounts from buying paper, food and other items in larger quantities to split among themselves.

“He can cross that bridge for us,” Christensen said. “I think the possibilities [of what that will do] are limitless.”

Stephen Daeschner

• 67 years old

• Formerly led Indian Prairie District 204, which serves Aurora, Naperville, Bolingbrook and Plainfield, Ill.

• Is married and has four children, ranging in age from 17 to 40

• Has spent 44 years working in education in various places, including Alaska, Iowa and Kentucky

• If he looks familiar, it’s because he led Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville for 14 years until the school board chose not renew his contract in 2007. During his tenure at JCPS, he was honored as Kentucky’s Superintendent of the Year in 2006 by the Kentucky Association of School Administrators.