Heuer to stay at helm of schools

Photo

Doug Heuer

By Elise Franco

The superintendent in Austintown said he was glad to be considered for Springfield schools chief.

AUSTINTOWN — The school district’s superintendent is staying put, and he’s OK with it.

Springfield City School District in Springfield, Ohio, had recently named Doug Heuer as one of three finalists vying for the district’s open superintendent position.

The Springfield Board of Education was to vote Monday night to hire David Estrop, current superintendent of Lakewood City Schools in Cuyahoga County, board President Donna Picklesimer said.

“The goal of the board going through a process like that is screening candidates they feel will be the best fit,” Heuer said. “Given where they are right now, [Estrop] is the person who will best serve their needs.”

Heuer said that after delivering the news, the board thanked him for being a part of the process. Heuer, Estrop and Butler Technology and Career Development Schools CEO/Superintendent Bob Sommers were interviewed by Springfield board members, residents, parents, teachers and staff in recent weeks.

The Springfield School District has more than 8,000 students, in comparison with about 5,000 in Austintown.

“The only thing they said was it was a very difficult choice, and they appreciated me putting in the time and energy to discuss the position with them,” Heuer said.

Picklesmier said the district was pleased with Heuer as a finalist and faced a tough choice when the time came to fill the position.

“We consider ourselves fortunate to have had such a difficult decision to make among three such high-quality candidates,” she said. “In fact, we delayed our decision in order to determine which would be the ‘best of the best’ fit for our district.”

Ultimately, Picklesimer said Estrop was chosen for several reasons.

“Among other things, Dr. Estrop was hired because of his experience and results with student achievement, alternative education and school climate,” she said. “In addition, the demographics of Lakewood School District more closely matched those of Springfield.”

Heuer said while a move to Springfield would have brought him closer to his two teenage sons, who live less than an hour from Springfield in a western suburb of Columbus, he still has work to do in Austintown before the end of this school year and into next year.

“I think No. 1, we’re going to have to address the state budget deficit and how that might affect our local district,” Heuer said. “We also will be looking at ways to continue to deliver high-quality education.”

In his four years as district superintendent, Heuer said the schools have won a dozen state and national awards, including the Blue Ribbon Award given to Lloyd Elementary in 2008. He said other major accomplishments include significantly reducing the budget over the past three years and opening a brand-new Austintown Middle School in 2007.

“We’ve made significant strides in academic performance,” he said. “We are occupationally close to finally getting the excellent rating on our state report card and would like to make that happen in the very near future.”

Above all else, however, Heuer said it’s the community members who make the district so special.

“We have a community that’s really devoted to it’s schools,” he said.

efranco@vindy.com