By Timothy Cox
tcox@dailystandard.com Greg Puthoff was hired Wednesday by the Parkway Local Schools board of education to serve as the new high school principal.
Puthoff comes to the district from Marion Local Schools, where he has spent about three years working as an assistant elementary principal and curriculum director. Parkway board members made their decision after two nights of interviews with a total of four finalists.
Puthoff will be paid $69,900 annually in his new post. He now earns $63,330 at his job at Marion Local.
Parkway officials have had their eye on Puthoff for some time, Superintendent Doug Karst said. When Puthoff was working at Fairfield schools, he applied for administrative posts at Parkway that eventually went to Michelle Duncan and Mark Esselstein. Although he was a finalist, Parkway hired the other two and Puthoff ended up getting the job at Marion Local.
"We were very impressed with him back then, and we're real happy about what he's going to bring to the district," Karst said. Puthoff, 44, a St. Henry native, returned to the area a few years ago. He has prior experience working with high school students, having taught three years of math. The new position is an opportunity he has been working toward for the past few years, he said.
"It's been a professional goal of mine to be a principal," Puthoff said this morning. "This is a real good opportunity for me."
Filling the high school principal's post brings Parkway to full staffing for the upcoming school year, Karst said. Puthoff replaces Bill Steinbrunner, who recently took a job with the St. Marys city school district.
Karst also announced that six Parkway teachers who previously fell victim to a necessary reduction-in-force all will be back on the job this fall. The six teachers were notified back in April they would be laid off for this school year. Five of them were brought back due to other retirements or teachers leaving their positions, Karst said. Another teacher was recalled because high school scheduling showed the additional position was necessary.
The district has five fewer employees than last year, Karst said, but no one lost their job due to layoffs.
"It turned out very well," Karst said. "Those were decisions that weighed very heavily on me." |
