LIMA — It can be a little awkward going to a new school for the first time, with new faces, new routines, perhaps even a new fight song at sporting events. Recently in Allen County, those transition experiences have not only been felt in the hallways among new students, but also in administrative offices with new superintendents coming into several districts — three this year alone.
Bath, Perry and Shawnee schools have named or are in the process of naming new superintendents, with Richard Dackin, Alison Van Gorder and James Kanable set to succeed Dale Lewellen, Omer Schroeder and Don Wade, respectively. Lewellen will be moving to a new position as superintendent of the Licking County Educational Service Center, while Schroeder is retiring after 36 years at Perry, 10 of them as superintendent. Wade served as a one-year interim superintendent after the sudden death of Mike Lamb.
“There has been a lot of turnover in the last few years, with a good amount of turnover this year,” according to Bluffton Superintendent Greg Denecker, now the longest tenured superintendent in Allen County at 10 years. “It’s been a good group to work with. We have monthly meetings together, and there’s interactions and different questions that we have together. It’s good to have that conversation.”
This time of transition follows a period of relative stability in the administrative offices of Allen County school districts, with recently ended tenures of 14 years for Joel Hatfield at Spencerville in 2013, 14 years for Michael Richards at Allen East in 2014 and 10 years for Schroeder at Perry. Currently, the average seniority among superintendents at the 11 Allen County school districts is four years at their current school.
“A lot of districts in Allen County have retire-rehire superintendents,” according to Allen East Superintendent Mel Rentschler, with one recent example being Kanable, who had recently retired from Liberty-Benton schools. “I think the group’s getting younger now, which is not necessarily a good or bad thing. The negative is you lose some institutional history in Allen County, but the positive is that you’re getting some fresh ideas coming in with new people at the table.”
Allen County Educational Service Center Superintendent Stephen Arnold just completed his first year as superintendent and praised the other county superintendents for not only welcoming him into his new role, but also collaborating on a variety of topics, from policy to innovations in the classroom to weather delays.
“The reception I received from the superintendents this year was great, and we worked well together,” he said. “I don’t know if [Dackin and Van Gorder] will be at our meeting in June or not because, officially, they don’t begin until Aug. 1. They may or may not be there, but if they are, we’ll certainly welcome them with open arms. I’m looking forward to it.”
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