1 step forward, 2 steps back must stop

I'm frustrated. In our coverage area, the biggest school district is Tiffin City Schools. TCS is rife with teachers and administrators who care, and with students who shine in and out of the classroom. Read the pages of The Advertiser-Tribune. You'll see Tornadoes doing great things in nearly every issue. But something is awry, and it's hard to put a finger on it. Since I came to town 30 months ago, I've seen nothing but setback after setback with TCS, sandwiched between fleeting moments of hope. I felt hope when I sat down with former superintendent Gary Barber, who outlined a vision for the district that genuinely got me excited. I felt it at a community event where I shook the hand and conversed with Van McWreath, hopeful he'd begin to bring things together. And I felt it last summer when Michael Zalar visited my office. After a candid discussion, I believed this was the right person to steer this ship. Of course, so few of the things I was excited about in those moments ever came to fruition. This summer, Tiffin will welcome its sixth superintendent since 2017. It's notable that two of these people — Barber and McWreath — left amid controversies about misconduct, and their situations should be placed in a separate category far away from the others. Zalar's resignation was due to personal family reasons, and for that I have extreme empathy. But when Zalar's resignation announcement came this week less than a year after his taking the job, my heart sunk once again. This has been a tough year at TCS, with a handful of self-inflicted public incidents affecting the district this fall, following tragedy and challenging situations that plagued it this winter. A new makeup of school board. A new superintendent. Excitement over a property tax levy attempt, only to see it shot down resoundingly by voters. It's been one step forward and two steps back for TCS. Zalar's resignation represents another yet another step back, and if we don't watch it, a few more steps will have us square into the Sandusky River. This should be a destination job — a large district in a good community with a stable of solid people at every turn. Athletic and academic success just doesn't happen randomly, and this school's prowess in these areas shows the capacity for the district at large. You might find it strange me quoting Dale DePew from Seneca News Daily, but he and I are often in touch, and few care about Tiffin more than Dale. He hit it on the head when he said the following in Wednesday's Daily: "We need an exceptional leader at this time. Frankly, the leader we need is not someone who is out looking for a job. The leader we need is someone who is happy in their current position, doing great things for the community they are already in … We need to find someone who is willing to accept a challenge, because face it, Tiffin City Schools, like it or not, is in a world of hurt." I second, triple, quadruple agree. Nobody is asking for my advice, but the right candidate should be studied and pursued. The board shouldn't simply wait for an application to come in. How many great leaders are out there fishing for new opportunities? There often is a reason someone is looking. Times like these make me think of the kids. If you think the adults of this district have been on a roller coaster, think of the kids, who have had their worlds upended in every which way over the past two years. In the education sense, children need consistency more than ever, and the consistency of a school district starts with the person tasked to lead it. It doesn't have to be one step forward, two steps back. It will take a visionary hire by the school board and the new leader to make good on his or her part of the deal to turn this thing around and get headed on back up the hill. Tiffin City Schools should be a beacon in our community, and will be with continued focus on children. But that will require the adults rising up and reversing a frustrating trend. Speer is the publisher of The Advertiser-Tribune and Review Times. He can be reached at jspeer@advertiser-tribune.com.