It's not always as easy as it sometimes looks

As the Norwalk City Schools board of education goes through the process of hiring a new superintendent, I was impressed Monday night by the presentations of the two finalists — Jude Meyers and Brad Cooley. And I was impressed with the large turnout of people who attended the evening. Each candidate got an hour in front of the 30 to 35 people, starting off with an opening presentation followed by questions. Both were well prepared and both seem like they would be great for the job. Now it comes down to the board of education. As I write this Tuesday afternoon no decision had been announced and a regular board meeting was set for Tuesday night. By the time you read this Norwalk may have a new superintendent. Whoever it is, I will feel good about the decision. As we move on I want to take a second to talk about George Fisk, who is leaving Norwalk after six years as superintendent for a job in the Canton area. In my 42-plus years in Norwalk I have seen many superintendents come and go throughout the area. We have had many great superintendents right here in Norwalk. Just the other day I was at a 90th birthday party for Realtor Norma Schaechterle and I ran into former superintendent Fred Walter, who was here in the 1980s. He came to Norwalk just after I did. Virginia Poling was next, followed by Wayne Babcanec and then Denny Doughty. After a year with an interim superintendent, Fisk came in and I thought he did a very good job. I look at superintendents as the face of the school district. They have to be there in the good times, but also in the bad times. The worst superintendents hide when something goes bad. Instead of stepping up, facing the media and trying to make the best of the situation, they stay quiet while all of the "experts" on social media take over. One of the best superintendents I came across was Don "Super" Gfell with the Berlin-Milan School District. Everything was super with Don. I always said if Don's house burned down he would simply answer, "that's all right, it needed painted anyways." Don was always there when you needed him. I remember Berlin-Milan always seemed to be in school when the other districts called off due to the weather. Don always said the street departments worked too hard to call school off. We've also had a lot of duds as superintendent in the area. I don't need to name any names — I'll bet you all know who I am talking about. But don't confuse bad superintendents with ones who you don't like. Superintendents upset people all of the time with their decisions. That is their job. They are not going to please everybody all of the time. The toughest part about being a superintendent is working for a board of education. They all have five bosses and many of those bosses have their own agendas. If you make a decision that gets one school board member upset, they usually have a friend they can pull on their side. Now it's a 2-3 vote. Swing one more person and you are down 3-2 and out of a job. I remember one person who ran for the board of education in Bellevue with the idea he was going to get rid of the superintendent. He won and, eventually, the superintendent lost. It's not an easy job. I thought Fisk did a great job. He was always up front with the media. I liked him as a superintendent and I liked him as a friend. We were at odds at times because of the stories we wrote about him looking for another job. I remember one time our reporter called him about another job while he was at Disney World with his family. He answered his phone and answered the questions, something many people would not have done. It just did not work out for Fisk in Norwalk. Now they are back around their family in Canton and I wish them all luck. It's time to turn the page. What next for the new superintendent? State funding? Report cards? Bouncing back from the pandemic? A new elementary school? It will be interesting to see how everything plays out with a new face in central office. Joe Centers is Reflector managing editor. He can be reached a jcenters@norwalkreflector.com.