What's Going On: Post-Schmidt: What’s next for ROCSD?

 This isn’t a time to dwell on the past. 

After eight years leading the Red Oak Community School District, Terry Schmidt resigned last week as superintendent. 

While school board members may have some idea, the only person who really knows why Schmidt resigned is Schmidt himself, and he isn’t talking.

In the nearly six years I’ve lived in Red Oak, the district has suffered its share of missteps, including personnel issues, violations of the state open meetings law and the current controversy regarding the tax levy and Tigervision. Compounded by (generally speaking) below-average academic achievement on standardized testing, Schmidt, as the man in charge, seems a plausible person to be held responsible. 

Whether that’s fair or not and whether he’s being used as a scapegoat or is leaving for other reasons is not important. 

What is important is what, or more appropriately, who, awaits in the future. 

I don’t think I am exaggerating when I state the school board’s decision regarding who to hire to replace Schmidt may be the most important one they make in this official capacity. 

The current state of affairs for Red Oak’s schools isn’t a bleak one. The district is financially sound (largely thanks to Schmidt’s leadership), especially in comparison to where it was six or seven years ago. Money has been allocated and a plan implemented to address the district’s most glaring needs in terms of buildings. And beyond the district’s boundaries, the community is strong, vibrant and in some regards, growing. 

However, Red Oak’s schools are in a precarious position, especially in terms of public perception. 

For reasons previously mentioned, there is a serious lack of confidence in the district’s leadership, and that starts with the superintendent. 

Whoever is hired is going to need to excel at raising student performance, managing a large scale construction project and maintaining a strong financial base in lieu of declining enrollment. 

But most importantly, the next superintendent is going to have to be likable. 

This person is going to have to mend a lot of fences in the community and regain a lot of trust. To do so, this person will have to show a genuine commitment to not only the school, but the community as a whole. This person, along with his or her family, will need to move to Red Oak and pay the same higher than average taxes everyone else in the community pays. They will need to join a local church and a civic group and demonstrate a desire and ability to make not only the district, but Red Oak a better place. 

And they will need to convey that approach to the district’s administrators as well.

Right now, there is a very real divide between the community and the district. The most recent controversy regarding the budget, tax levy and Tigervision illustrates that. 

Whoever is hired is going to need to bridge that divide and put the community back in the Red Oak Community School District. 

That won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight, but it can be done by the right person. 

Now it’s the school board’s job to find that person. 

Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express and Glenwood Opinion-Tribune. He can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com.