New Metro superintendent no stranger to district
By ROBERT BRYAN
Thursday, July 31, 2008 7:24 PM EDT
Her work now keeps her inside much of the time, but if looking for her you might best look outdoors - outdoors doing, well, outdoorsy things.
"I love being outside," said Metro's new superintendent Dr. Sandra Weaver. "I think that's the farm girl part of me. I grew up outside (on a farm near South Whitley, where her parents still live.).
"I have a garden, love flowers. I live on a lake in Kosciusko County and and I like to kayak."
When forced indoors in her free time, she's an avid reader of both fiction and the latest leadership nonfiction. Her office wall bears decorative quotes from Maya Angelou.
"I'm also a movie buff. I like going to the theater. I like the stories and I like the popcorn. I like the whole experience." "Mama Mia" was a recent one she really liked.
Starting work here July 1 to replace Scott Hanback, Weaver came at a time when many teachers, parents and students had flown to the four corners of the vacation world; but she has nonetheless been reacquainting herself with some Metro staffers and families (or family names) from earlier stints at Metro.
In the early '80s she spent four years as a special education teacher at Sharp Creek Elementary (hired by principal Oren Guenin).
She spent another year (1996-97) in the Metro family as a coordinator in the Wabash-MIami Area Program.
From the top, now: How did a South Whitley farm girl become Metro superintendent?
Debating the merits of a career in teaching or mental health therapy, she initially chose the former: "I alwyas had a heart for special needs children."
Her first teaching experience was in the Whitko district, including a spell as kindergarten teacher in the very room she attended as a child. "Some of the same teachers I had in school were now colleagues."
Though this was before Prime Time mandated manageable class sizes at the primary level, she loved it and was thrilled many years later to be invited to one of that first classes' reuinions.
After obtaining her masters degree in special education through University of St. Francis, she got the Sharp Creek job. After one year maternity leave, to have daughter Brittany, she left Metro to raise her daughter and pursue another master's degree at St. Francis - in counseling and psychology.
During nearly nine years at Charter Beacon Hospital in Fort Wayne, she played many inpatient and outpatient roles - family therapist, adolescent unit supervisor, specialist in sexual assault, where she worked with both victims and assailants.
Over the years the job demanded more and more time for a mother who needed more time at home. "Finally, I said, 'Sandra, you have this teaching degree. Maybe you want to be an administrator."
She taught a year at Manchester Elementary School while getting her principal's license. That led to one year as a special education coordinator at WMAP - followed by five years as the assistant director of the special education cooperative in Warsaw.
From there she took on the job of assistant superintendent at Warsaw Community Schools, enrollment about 7,000.
The last six years before hiring on at Metro she spent there; three of those years she shared the central office with her husband, Dr. Dave McGuire, superintendent. He has since taken the job as director of literacy and English as a second language for the Elkhart Community Schools.
"There are lots of conversations at our house about education," said Weaver, laughing. "We talk shop but there are times we freely say, 'OK, we need a break.'"
Neither is afraid to give the other advice on difficult matters, but with the full knowledge that each situation is unique and there is no shared responsibility.
It was at a superintendent's study council some months ago that Weaver heard Hanback announce he was leaving Metro. Immediately interested, she applied.
Today she is even more convinced she was right: "This job fits me and I think I can help the district. I''m very glad to be here."
What about her educational philosophy?
In the years ahead, she noted, Metro will be facing lots of teaching and administrative retirements.
"I'm a firm believer that you hire the best and retain only the best. I want us to have the best professional staff we can."
She also wants to ensure that schools make better use of the information acculumting daily: "Schools do a very good job at collecting data but we warehouse it. We need to do a better job of using it."
For instance, do individual students know where their test scores compare to expectations, and compared to performance of others in the state and nation?
Also, do all elements of the school community - teachers, adminstrative staff, support staff, bus drivers, parents - know what goals all the others are pursuing?
She's obviously anxious for opening day, Aug. 12: "It's my intent to be in every building. I won't bother teachers but stop by the office to see that things are going well."
She's also planning a half day administrative retreat at White's Junior-Senior High for all on opening day.
"We're a small district, but we're still big enough that people don't know everyone."
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