ST. MARYS — A familiar face has been named superintendent of St. Marys schools.
On Wednesday night, the board of education named Bill Ruane, 36, to assume the position on August 1. His contract will run through July 31, 2021. Between now and then work closely with interim superintendent Howard Overman. Overman replaced Shawn Brown who left the school district for another position.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity, thrilled that the board has the confidence in me to do this and I feel like I’m ready to step up to the opportunities and new challenges that our district faces. I have a lot of pride in the St. Marys community and St. Marys school. My great-grandfather was board president for 24 years and my mom and grandmother both taught here,” Ruane said.
Ruane is a 2000 graduate of St. Marys and a 2004 graduate of Miami University at Oxford. He taught middle school social studies in the St. Marys school district for nine years. He took an assistant principal’s job in the Coldwater school district for one year before coming back to St. Marys as principal at Memorial High School.
He agrees that the biggest challenge is getting a new school tax levy passed.
“A lot of schools are in our same situation with little increase in funding from the state and the increase in state mandates,” he noted.
Board Vice-President Brian Little was happy with their choice of Ruane as their next superintendent.
“He’s been around. He started his career here. He’s been a teacher here. He left for a little while. We were able to get him back as principal and he is a tremendous candidate. He plans on staying here for his whole career. He wants to make this school district the best school district that he can. He is overly involved in every aspect and has been since he became principal,” Little said.
In fact, no other candidate was interviewed to take the position.
“We decided, even though it’s early in his career, Bill was our only choice,” Little added.
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