By Lance Mihm
lmihm@dailystandard.com ST. MARYS — A former St. Marys administrator is among 10 more applicants who have applied for the St. Marys Local Schools superintendent position, bringing the total to 18 applicants through Friday.
Leslie Brady, 7574 East Bowling Green Lane, Lancaster, is among the applicants for the position that will be vacated due to Paul Blaine’s announced retirement effective Aug. 1. Brady is currently superintendent at Bloom-Carroll Local School district, Carroll, where she has been for the last four years. Previous to that, she had served as director of instruction at St. Marys for 10 years. That position is now renamed in St. Marys as the assistant superintendent position. Brady has also served as an assistant professor at Central Michigan University and Wright State University.
Michael Shaffer, 7758 Leatherback Court, Dayton, has served the past year as associate director of fine arts at Dayton Public Schools. Previous to that, he has served various titles at Huber Heights City Schools, including principal, dean of students, supervisor, and teacher for 30 years.
James J. Bermingham, 10348 Corey Bluff, Three Rivers, Mich., is operational vice-president of Edison Schools, New York City, where he has been for two years. Previously, he had served as superintendent of Three Rivers Community Schools in Three Rivers, Mich. for six years. He also served in various posts, including superintendent, at Edwardsburg Public Schools, Edwardsburg, Mich.
Brion Deitsch, 403 W. River St., Edgerton, has been superintendent of Edgerton Local Schools for the past five years. Other posts include junior high principal and athletic director at Bryan City Schools, high school principal at North Central Local Schools in Pioneer, at physical education teacher at St. Pius X High School in Atlanta, Ga.
Kenneth J. Schmiesing, 1534 Garrett Road, Jefferson, is currently the principal at Pierpont Elementary School in the Buckeye Local Schools district, where he has been working for just under a year. He previously was principal at North Elementary School in the Miami East Local Schools district for two years and Russia Local Schools as the K-12 principal for five years.
James E. Knapp, 21358 Meadows Edge Lane, Strongsville, is currently superintendent of Columbia Local Schools, Columbia Station, were he has been for four years. Previously, he had more than 27 years experience, including 13 years at Granville Exempted Village schools as an elementary principal, Title 1 director, and superintendent.
Timothy Lee Myers, 235 Duck Pond Road, Upper Sandusky, has been high school principal at Upper Sandusky EVSD for the past five years. Previously, he was acting superintendent at Upper Sandusky and assistant high school principal at Morgan Local Schools, McConnelsville. He also was physical education director at St. Clairsville City Schools for 17 years.
Clarence F. Crum, 27 Apache Trail, Melvern, is superintendent of Barnesville Exempted Village School District, where he has been for one year. Other previous experience includes three years as high school principal at Brown Local Schools, Melvern, three years as director of music and fine arts at Lake Local Schools, Hartville, and six years as superintendent of music at Massillon City Schools.
Michael L. Trego, 7359 Brookville Salem Road, Brookville, has been superintendent of National Trail Local Schools for the past four years. He spent six years previous to that in various principal positions at Brookville Local Schools, Twin Valley South Local Schools in West Alexandria, and Carlisle local Schools.
Norman F. Burkhardt is currently the assistant superintendent at Sidney Local schools, where he has been for four years. He previously had 13 years experience as a superintendent at Vandalia-Butler City Schools and Fort Loramie Local Schools.
Other candidates previously reported were Kenneth C. Baker, Wyoming; Terri Moore, Solon; William McKinney, Marion; Dr. Charles Shreve, Batavia; George Stone, Albion, Ind., Stephen Stohla, Ravenna; Pamela Carnahan, Colchester, Vt.; and Thomas Forman, Heath.
St. Marys school board member Craig Gottschalk felt that the operational levy passing in March may have helped generate more interest in the position.
“I was expecting about 10 to apply,” Gottschalk said. “There are funding problems everywhere, and I think it would help when interested applicants see that the levy passed. I hope we get even more. It gives us a broader cross-section to choose from.”
“We don’t have any perceived ideas at what we are looking for at this point and there has not been any discussion yet,” board member Joyce Finke said. “Right now I think the plans are that packets with information on all the candidates will be passed out for us to review individually.”
The board will possibly go in to an executive session after the April board meeting to discuss the candidates, board members said.
St. Marys City Schools treasurer Peg Grimm said that the board hopes to hire a superintendent by the May 12 board meeting. Grimm said 21 people have expressed interest in the position, but the above named four are the only candidates who have submitted applications so far. The school is accepting applications until March 22. |
