Ruane hired as St. Marys school chief

ST. MARYS - School board members on Monday named high school principal Bill Ruane as the new district superintendent, effective Aug. 1.

His contract will run through July 31, 2021.

"The plan has been for him to move up and be a superintendent. That has always been our hopes," board vice president Brian Little said. "He's a fantastic administrator and the opportunity has come around a little sooner than anyone had planned, and we know through everything he's done already, he is by far the best candidate that we have because he's here. He's already been here. He knows what's going on here."

During public comment, former board member Bob Valentine expressed concern that board members had not done their due diligence to see if a more-experienced candidate was available.

However, Little later said, "No matter who we could have possibly hired, they wouldn't have been better than Bill."

Board member Ronda Shelby said Ruane has been a student, teacher, coach and principal in the district, and the high school teachers he oversees respect and admire him.

"I greatly appreciate the board for its fine work and having confidence in me," Ruane said. "I'm really excited about the challenges and opportunities this job presents. It was a tough decision because I love my job. I love working with the kids. I love working with my staff and everything, but I see this as a great opportunity."

In other business, the board authorized the Roughrider Philanthropic Association to begin construction of the Roughrider Athletic Complex.

Association member Matt Hughes updated board members on fundraising, saying $1.7 million had been raised so far, and the association plans to continue fundraising until Aug. 24. The targeted amount for completing the complex is $3 million. A 4,000-seat bleacher system is already on order, and Hughes said the association was making other "dramatic improvements."

"We're encouraged. We're working with a couple of different lenders. It appears a line of credit is no issue, so with a $1 million line of credit, when that's formally secured, we can advance many different fronts, not just the grandstands. We can do a scoreboard, we can do lots of different things at the same time," Hughes said.

Board members also,

• recognized Michael Jaros, who achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and obtained a headstone for a former St. Marys mayor who had been in an unmarked grave, as well as headstones for the mayor's wife and infant son.

• approved implementing a one-to-one Chromebook initiative for the 2018-2019 sixth- and ninth-graders for $84,250.

• approved installing Wi-Fi access points at the St. Marys East Primary and St. Marys West Intermediate schools for $36,507.

• approved the purchase of new English language arts program materials for grades K-10 for $216,593.

• appointed Joint Township District Memorial Hospital as the site for all van and bus driver physicals and drug testing.

• approved offering special educational units and services such as an autism class, two cross categorical classes and a speech pathologist. Auglaize County Educational Service Center personnel had handled those duties.