Huron Valley Schools Unanimously Selects Jim Baker as New Superintendent

The board of education will now enter into negotiations with Jim Baker for the position. Baker has served as interim superintendent at Huron Valley Schools since May.

In a surprise move Tuesday night, the Huron Valley Schools Board of Education decided to forgo the rest of the search process and select Jim Baker as the new Huron Valley Schools Superintendent. Baker has served as interim superintendent for the district since May. Following the remainder of the candidate interviews Tuesday, the board heard feedback from the audience - all who said Baker was the clear choice. Initially the school board was going to select two finalists who would be interviewed again next week and spend a day in the district as part of the process. However, several school board members said they already felt one candidate ranked higher than the other three, and that candidate was Baker. School board member Rebecca Walsh …

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Students Are the Focus for the First 2 Huron Valley Schools Superintendent Candidates

The Huron Valley Schools Board of Education interviewed two of the four candidates for the superintendent position Monday. Interviews will continue Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Lakeland High School.

Honesty, transparency and doing what's best for students were the main campaign platforms for Robert Shaner and Paul DeAngelis - both of whom are candidates to be the next Huron Valley Schools Superintendent. The board of education conducted two of the four scheduled interviews Monday during a special meeting. Each interview lasted 90 minutes. The candidates answered more than 25 questions from board members, and at least three questions from the audience in attendance. Interviews will continue Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Lakeland High School. The final two candidates to be interviewed are current interim superintendent Jim Baker and Cindy Weber. Robert Shaner was the first candidate to be interviewed on Monday. Shaner is currently the Executive …

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Letter to the Editor: A Thank You from the Huron Valley School Board

Board President Sean Carlson thanks voters for their support in the general election.

Thank you Huron Valley voters! On behalf of the Huron Valley School Board and District I want to express our sincere appreciation to the community, and more specifically to the 18,728 citizens that cast yes votes for the non-homestead renewal millage. The 18,728 votes represented 63.56% of the total votes cast on this question. At Huron Valley, we have dedicated administrators, teachers and staff that work everyday to provide the best educational experience for our students. There is no doubt that the solid passage of this millage represents an endorsement of their hard work and our continued efforts to fulfill our mission: "inspiring and building futures one student at a time."     From a grateful School Board & District- thank you! Sean …

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Huron Valley School Board Amends Motion to Sell Vacant Buildings

Under the new resolution, Milford Village and Highland Township have until March to make an offer for the vacant schools in their towns.

The Huron Valley School Board has extended the amount of time it will allow the Village of Milford and Highland Township to decide whether they will purchase Baker Elementary and Highland Middle School. If neither local government makes an offer to purchase the vacant school building in their respective towns, the district will then entertain offers from the public to either sell the buildings, or demolish the buildings. School Board Trustee Chuck Dittmar was the only person on the board to vote against the extension. A change to the resolution allowing the extension was proposed by Dittmar, but that change was voted down with only school board trustees Jeff Long and Dittmar voting in support of it. Had it passed, Highland and Milford …

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Huron Valley School Board Expects to Hire Superintendent by January

Michigan Leadership Institute to help district with the hiring process.

The Huron Valley Schools Board of Education met Thursday to discuss several items, including the time line for hiring a new superintendent. According to the schedule laid out by Michael Wilmot of Michigan Leadership Institute, the company hired to help the board find qualified candidates, the district is expected to hire someone to fill the superintendent vacancy by the end of January 2013. Until then, Jim Baker will continue to serve as the interim superintendent. In the next few week, members of the institute will meet individually with members of the board to help draft a profile of the different qualities the district will seek in candidates. In September, that profile will be shared with stakeholders throughout the district, including…

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Huron Valley School Board Approves 2012-2013 Budget

The Huron Valley Schools Board of Education met Thursday night to discuss several items, including the budget for the 2012-2013 school year.

Huron Valley Schools will dip into its fund balance in order to balance the 2012-2013 school year, in a budget approved by the Huron Valley Schools Board of Trustees Thursday night. According to Donna Welch, assistant superintendent of administrative services, the district will use approximately $4.8 million from the fund balance to cover the more than $84 million in projected expenses. The district is expected to bring in approximately $80 million in revenues during the 2012-2013 fiscal year. That will leave $8.4 million left in the schools fund balance. Cuts will be made this year to several services, including the elimination of one secretary position at a district building, and cuts to instructional staffing and parapros. A detailed …

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Huron Valley District Hires Superintendent Search Firm

Huron Valley Schools has picked a superintendent search firm and will start the search process in the next few weeks.

Thursday night, the Huron Valley Schools Board of Education approved the recommendation from the ad hoc superintendent search committee and selected Michigan Leadership Institute as the firm to head up the search for the new superintendent. Only two bids were received by the district. Those bids were from an Illinois based company called School Exec Connect, and Michigan based company Michigan Leadership Institute, all three committee members agreed that they wanted to stick with the Michigan company. "Michigan is in a totally unique situation as far as economy and schools, I think we need to stick with a company that knows Michigan," board member Bonnie Brown said. Michigan Leadership Institute was the lowest bid, offering to do the job …

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From the School Board

Huron Valley School Board President Announces New Committee

If you're interested in joining the district's Information & Technology Committee fill out and submit the form included in this article.

The following is a message from Huron Valley Schools School Board President Sean Carlson. The Mission Statement of the Huron Valley School District is Inspiring and Building Futures, One Student at a Time.  As the School Board President there is no doubt there is an overall commitment and desire from administrators, teachers and staff to inspire and prepare students for the 21st century and also personalize programming as much as possible to meet the individualized needs of each Huron Valley student. However, despite our intense dedication we need to ask ourselves are we closer or farther away from achieving our District’s Mission.  The focus of the last few years has been dealing with the constant cuts from Lansing and keeping Huron …

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Huron Valley Superintendent Jackie Johnston Addresses District

Jackie Johnston is set to leave her position April 30, Interim Superintendent Jim Baker will start his position May 1.

The following is from the Huron Valley School District and Superintendent Jackie Johnston. Dear Huron Valley Families: As my tenure with HVS winds down, I want to take this opportunity to thank the parents, students, staff and community for the high level of support provided to our District. HVS has been my home for 16 years, so moving on is bittersweet. However, I leave knowing that the District is in good hands. Students in HVS are fortunate to have parents who truly care about their success and a community that recognizes it takes all of us to ensure the health and welfare of our kids. Our students are educated by a staff that demonstrates its talents and creativity on a daily basis, and an administrative team that is passionate about …

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