Mers appointed interim Valley superintendent

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By Joseph Pratt

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The Valley Local School Board of Education met Wednesday evening for a special meeting to discuss the direction of superintendency after accepting the formal resignation of outgoing Superintendent Carl McCrory last week.

The board went into agreement and voted to partner with the South Central Ohio Education Service Center (SCOESC) to locate a new superintendent. They also voted to appoint Sandy Mers as the interim superintendent while the search is ongoing. Mers is currently the incoming superintendent for the Southern Central Ohio Educational Service Center, and is the outgoing superintendent of Green Local School District.

Troy Gahm, president of the Valley Local School Board of Education said that the school will have Mers as the superintendent, but will keep as much weight off her shoulders as possible as they search for the new superintendent.

Mers makes the ninth superintendent that Gahm has worked with at Valley in his eight years on the board. Gahm said he and his colleagues are taking the search seriously, asking staff for a help in the direction, and want to find someone who will make a long-lasting mark on the district.

“It is fact that the average length a superintendent stays with a district is 3.2 years, but we would like to find someone who can drive the school in a direction and stay for much longer than that,” Gahm said.

The SCOESC is accepting resumes for the position of valley superintendent, with a deadline of Aug. 6.

Gahm said that the board is looking for an applicant with respectable experience in the field, since some of the principal positions and leadership roles are currently filled by people still early in their careers.

“I’m optimistically excited for the opportunity to find a really good superintendent that is wanting a great school with fresh, young talent to manage,” Gahm said.

The board said they have already received some applications and they look forward to combing through even more.

If an adequate superintendent cannot be found in a reasonable time, Gahm said that the board, in effort to not leave the role of superintendent on the shoulders of Mers for long, will change their approach to instigate a new search for an interim instead.

Reach Joseph Pratt at 740-353-3101, ext. 1932, or by Twitter @JosephPratt03.

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