Wednesday, February 25th, 2015
Vaughn offered ESC job
By Shelley Grieshop
CELINA - Fort Recovery Local Schools Superintendent Shelly Vaughn has been offered the top position at the Mercer County Educational Service Center.
Vaughn has informally accepted the superintendent's position, ESC board president Melissa Hoying confirmed today.
"But there's been no board action yet," she added.
The board is expected to officially hire Vaughn and set her salary at its next meeting at 7:30 p.m. March 9 at the ESC building in Celina.
The board in the last two weeks had narrowed its candidate search to Vaughn and Parkway Local Schools Superintendent Greg Puthoff. Twelve applications were received for the position.
Vaughn would replace Andy Smith, who retired in December but was rehired for four months to ensure a smooth transition with the new superintendent.
Vaughn, 41, said she is excited about the new job but has mixed feelings about leaving the Fort Recovery district.
"It was a difficult decision to make, to apply in the first place," she said this morning.
Vaughn said great people are at Fort Recovery schools and she has enjoyed her 16 years with the district. She decided to apply for the ESC position because of her passion for special education; she taught special needs students for four years during her tenure at Fort Recovery, she explained.
She looks forward to working on curriculum and professional development for teachers, she said.
"There are a lot of possibilities with shared services in Mercer County," Vaughn noted. "We have very high-performing districts."
Vaughn has served as superintendent at Fort Recovery schools since 2012. Prior to that she was the elementary principal for five years and a teacher for seven years.
Smith had served as ESC superintendent since April 2006 and prior to January was earning an annual salary of $113,662. He was granted an extended five-month salary of $45,000.
ESC offers a variety of services to area districts related to special, gifted and preschool education. It also makes available specialists such as psychologists and speech pathologists.
