The Hartshorne Public School Board of Education voted January 9 to hire Jason Lindley as superintendent to replace current Superintendent Mark Ichord, who is retiring at the end of the school year.
Lindley is currently the Hartshorne Junior High School principal and the athletic director for the district. His contract is for three years beginning July 1, 2017 and ending June 30, 2020. Lindley’s base salary is set at $84,145.08, plus retirement.
The work has been done to prepare Lindley for the role, Ichord believes, and he feels comfortable handing over the district to Lindley.
“He was assistant (superintendent) this past year,” Ichord said. “He’s come up through the ranks as a teacher and a coach and he’s been an assistant (superintendent) this year and he got in on some things that got him prepared. He’s done a real good job.
“I have to have a lot of confidence in someone to be able to turn it over to them,” Ichord said. “He’s one of those I’d recommend; I wouldn’t just recommend anybody.”
Lindley said the work as an assistant superintendent gave him, “an opportunity to see things from the inside.”
While Ichord supports Lindley, the hire was made by the members of the board of education. The vote at Monday night’s regularly scheduled meeting was unanimous, according to meeting minutes.
“I’m excited about getting Jason,” Hartshorne Board of Education Member Randy Wilcox said. “Jason, his love for this school and this community — you could open it up and interview 100 people and not find someone who loves and cares for the community like he does.”
Board Member Casey McCoy praised Lindley’s trustworthiness.
“We’re excited about what he’s going to do, the direction he’s going to take us,” McCoy said. “He’s very thorough in what he does; he’s just a good guy; he’s someone I can trust and the school can trust.”
Board Member Michael O’Kelley simply said, “We’re tickled to have him.”
Hartshorne Public School Board of Education President Todd Barrier refused comment on the hire or to voice support for his new superintendent.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Barrier said. “I don’t feel it’s my place to talk about it ... That show’s partisanship.”
Barrier voted in favor of hiring Lindley, but when asked if that meant he supported him, Barrier said, “I don’t want to comment on anything.”
Receiving a unanimous vote, however, encouraged Lindley moving forward.
“I’m appreciative of our board, trusting with the responsibilities of being superintendent,” Lindley said. “It’s a tough time in education so I look forward to the challenge.
“The fact that the board has the confidence to give me this opportunity is pretty humbling,” Lindley said. “They’ve been very supportive and they continued to show me that support by giving me this opportunity.”
A graduate of Hartshorne High School, Lindley said he never dreamed he’d be where he’s at now.
“Going back to the high school days I don’t think I walked around going, ‘I’m going to be superintendent one day,’ but I like this community,” Lindley said.
His high school days were fondly recalled by his high school principal — Mark Ichord.
“I was his high school principal and he was my office aide and he has always been a very mature person for his age,” Ichord said. “Jason has always been a very articulate person. He really worked well with the community. He’s young enough but he’s old enough to handle the responsibility of (being superintendent). And he has the athletic knowledge having been an athletic director and a coach.”
Ichord has worked at Hartshorne Public Schools since 1984, he said, and has been the superintendent for 10 years.
Moving from junior high school principal and athletic director to superintendent leaves those jobs up in the air, but Lindley said the district will work to fill those duties before the end of the school year.
“We’ll have to discuss all that because there are a lot of moving parts,” Lindley said. “It would be hard to say for sure. I will continue those (athletic director) duties through the end of the year. The principal position we will discuss at the February board meeting.”
Contact David Dishman at ddishman@mcalesternews.com
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