Deborah Hamm, currently the superintendent of Oxford USD 258, is the second candidate to be considered for the open superintendent job at Emporia USD 253.
On Wednesday Hamm went on a tour of district facilities, met with administrators, had a meet and greet for the public and school district staff and had a formal interview with the Emporia USD 253 Board of Education.
Hamm said she’s interested in the job for many reasons, including Emporia USD 253’s reputation.
“It has a reputation for being very focused on school and student improvement,” Hamm said.
Also, the fact that it’s a larger district also made her interested.
“I feel like my experiences in a smaller district where I wear all the hats, from food service to superintendent, could be utilized in a larger district,” Hamm said.
She continued: “I look forward to working with a team of educators and administrators to have an impact on kids in a larger district.”
Oxford USD 258 district has 31 teachers and licensed staff members, about 350 students and a budget of about $5 million. Emporia USD 253 has 4,600 students, 454 licensed full-time staff members, 316 full-time classified staff and an adopted budget of $56 million.
Hamm has 21 years of experience in education. She has served as superintendent at Oxford since 2006.
Her previous experience includes being an assistant professor and adjunct faculty member at Wichita State University, being an elementary principal at McPherson, middle school principal at Cheney, assistant principal at Newton and teacher at Newton.
Hamm earned a doctoral degree in educational administration from Wichita State University, district level certification from WSU, a master’s degree in educational administration and a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from WSU, and also earned an associate degree from Hutchinson Community College.
Hamm said she has a few professional ties to Emporia. She conducted research for her dissertation on Emporia schools implementing new math curriculum. She interviewed teachers and did a focus group with the professional development council to learn how USD 253 was supporting teachers and implementing the new curriculum.
She was also a part of the Reading Success Network, which was the precursor to Literacy First and MTSS, the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. Through that she interacted with many Emporia teachers and administrators.
Hamm also said now is the most challenging time in education since she began her career.
“There’s never been as many issues that are coming to the forefront all at one time,” she said. “I think it’s a challenge and you need to have leaders willing to face the challenge and understand that it’s multifaceted.”
Hamm said she respects that Gov. Sam Brownback is making difficult budget decisions in a difficult time, though she doesn’t agree entirely with his budget proposal.
“It is imperative we fund education at a rate that we can move students into the 21st century and have them be successful in their careers and in college,” she said. “We have to focus on finding solutions. We need to look at finding the things we have in common and how we can work on those.”
The board of education will interview another internal candidate today. The first candidate, Brian Jordan, currently the assistant superintendent for personnel for Emporia USD 253, was interviewed last week.
The district interview another candidate today, Theresa Davidson.
lyon (anonymous) says...
She'd be a great addtion to the district as long as it's not Brian Jordan!
January 21, 2011 at 7:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justaflushaway (anonymous) says...
??????????
January 21, 2011 at 8:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
giggles (anonymous) says...
What beef do you have with Brian Jordan? I worked at Lowther North where he was principal and found him to be excellent at that work. I think he is exceptionally qualified for such a position and think he can bring a new perspective to that job. I would vote for him.
January 21, 2011 at 11:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )