Onsted school board selects new superintendent on 4-2 vote

ONSTED — Even though a unanimous selection was not reached Monday evening, the Onsted Community Schools Board of Education selected a finalist it wants to serve as the next leader of the Onsted schools.

Clara Howitt, a Greater Essex County district administrator in Ontario, Canada, was selected by the Onsted board as its next superintendent Monday during the board’s regular meeting at Onsted High School.

The process of reaching the 4-2 vote to hire Howitt took a couple of tries for the board with continued discussion and re-votes. For some time, board members were deadlocked 3-3 with votes for Howitt and for Jonathon Royce, principal of Charlotte High School.

Trustee Heather Ruttkofsky, who initially vouched for Royce, changed the course of the voting by voicing her support for Howitt.

Trustee Ryan Reynolds was absent from the meeting due to work commitments. He also was absent because of work from the May 16 special meeting when Howitt interviewed a second time with the board. That interview and the May 8 second-round interviews with Royce and Jodi Ferris, principal at Fremont Public Schools’ Pathfinder Elementary School, have been recorded and can be viewed online at onstedschools.us/superintendent-search.

With an appointee selected, the negotiations will begin this week to determine if terms can be reached for Howitt to become the district’s next superintendent, board President Jason Terakedis said. Those negotiations will include Howitt, board representatives and Randy Liepa from the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI), the consultant assisting Onsted with the superintendent search.

The board is expecting the new superintendent to begin their role June 1, a month later than when the board originally wanted to have the new district leader in place. Terakedis said some travel and personal issues with the board members put them behind the original schedule.

“We thought it would be better to figure it out and let everyone have input,” he said.

Current Superintendent Steve Head announced his retirement in December. His last day will be June 30, ending 29 years with Onsted schools. He has been superintendent since 2017.

More: Onsted Community Schools superintendent announces retirement

Along with Ruttkofsky, Terakedis was another vote for Royce. He and secretary Dave VanBrunt were the two remaining votes for Royce.

Vice President Ray Tessier, treasurer Alex Gast and trustee Keith Williams were in favor of hiring Howitt, who was described several times by board members as the most experienced administrator among the three finalists.

“I think she’s all in on Onsted,” Gast said. “We can be her second family. Her home away from home.”

Diversity of the board is a good thing when it comes to the deadlock of votes between Howitt and Royce, Terakedis said. Board members brought a lot of perspectives about the candidates to the table.

“We have formed the board to have open and very clear dialogue. We have great conversations one on one with each other and support each other’s decisions. I think it shows the diversity of the board. I think it reflects some of the community feedback that we got. In moving forward, if we come to an agreeable solution on contract negotiations we’ll support Dr. Clara Howitt as our next superintendent fully,” he said.

Howitt views herself as a ‘servant leader’

Because of an injury, Howitt — who was originally scheduled to interview a second time with the school board May 6 — met with the board last Thursday. It was not known if she could attend the interview in person due to her injury, so the district prepared to conduct the interview virtually.

Howitt was present in the district last week and met with the board for the final interview of the search process.

As the board progressed through its search, it kept Onsted Community Schools’ vision at the forefront of its decisions, Terakedis said, which is “To inspire, prepare and challenge every student every day.”

Making decisions based on that vision and the district’s mission statement are important for the success of a school district, Howitt said during last week's interview.

“Whatever action comes out of the (superintendent) entry plan should be in service to the district’s mission statement,” she said.

A superintendent’s entry plan into a new district is very important, Howitt said. It serves as a method of introduction for the superintendent to the community and for the community to share with the superintendent its aspirations, concerns and goals. The entry plan outlines Howitt's goals for her first three to six months as superintendent.

Developing nurturing, positive and productive relationships are important components of the plan, she said, as the superintendent needs to be in service to the community. A main focus of an entry plan is an understanding of traditions, relationships, operations and strengths.

Objectivity, transparency and a willingness to learn and seek to understand are among her beliefs as a leader, she said.

“I see myself, my role and my leadership style as that of servant leadership,” she said. “I see my role in doing this process with the community as being a helper to the community.”

Keeping with the same format of the second-round interviews for Royce and Ferris, the board asked Howitt to prepare a plan of action to address a hypothetical $1 million shortfall in funding.

She provided the board with her top 10 strategies to address a financial deficit, enhance revenue and contain costs.

Those strategies and her descriptions of them included an understanding of the district’s budget, accepting out-of-district students to boost enrollment, eliminating energy waste, increasing efficiency and personnel, automating where possible for the allocation of resources, preventive maintenance and having a reactive approach to maintenance, shrewd management of resources, optimization of transportation, outsourcing when needed and reducing paper use as going paperless could save significant costs.

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A major responsibility for a school superintendent is the management of the district’s finances and an understanding of revenue and expenditures, she said.

“You don’t wait for the problem to happen,” she said, speaking about potential financial shortfalls in the district. “You don’t wait for a deficit; you plan and prepare for a rainy day all the time.”

If selected as Onsted’s next superintendent, Howitt said she would look forward to the opportunity to work in a small community. She also said she would provide the district with “superb performance,” and she would “work the like the dickens.”

Howitt has been in education for 31 years, 26 of those years as a formal leader and a senior officer for 16 years.

She credited the board for its open mindedness to consider a candidate like herself, someone who she said is “just different.”

“I think that demonstrates something about this board,” she said.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Onsted school board selects Clara Howitt as district's superintendent