Don DeWeese was all set to complete his final year as Community Schools of Frankfort Superintendent at the beginning of this year. However, it didn’t take long for him to change his mind.
“My intent was to complete this year and go to next June 30,” said DeWeese. “It didn’t take long to see that things are just changing. It is so different and I didn’t know if I wanted to do this for an entire year. So, I changed it (my retirement date) to midyear.”
Once school started, DeWeese found out just how much that outside force was wearing him and others down. He added he found himself and Assistant Superintendent Joel McKinney discussing that outside entity multiple hours during each day.
“So much of our day, the topic is COVID,” said DeWeese. “COVID is just wearing us all down.”
Shortly after the last school board meeting on August 11, DeWeese decided it was time to take some action and decided it was time to retire earlier than as originally planned in January. The Board of Education officially accepted his letter of retirement Tuesday night effective October 2. That means McKinney will become Interim Superintendent on October 3 before becoming Superintendent at the first of the year.
What this means is that the search for an Assistant Superintendent intensifies some plus the board approved hiring a COVID officer to help take some of the work burden off school officials.
School Board President Karen Sutton said they hope to have an Assistant Superintendent named by October 30. She also thought the hiring of a COVID officer was “a smart move.”
“It’s a lot of that is tedious work and it takes up a lot of time,” said Sutton.
DeWeese agreed.
“We need someone that’s going to take some of the COVID clerical, the phone calling, the contact tracing, the PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) and distribution,” said DeWeese. “The superintendent in Frankfort is basically the CEO of the fourth largest employer in Clinton County. That means there’s a lot of responsibility and a lot of work to do and we can’t get to any of that because COVID requires your attention. We need help.”
Both Sutton and DeWeese agreed McKinney is the perfect replacement.
“He’s ready. We’re ready,” said Sutton. “It’s going to be a smooth transition and it’s going to work out.”
DeWeese was sure it was going to work out.
“I’m 100 percent sure I’m leaving the district in good hands,” said DeWeese. “Joel McKinney is going to do great things in this school district and in this community. He is one of the most outstanding educators I’ve ever worked with. I saw the perfect opportunity to me to step aside and let Joel do his work.”
The last official day for DeWeese will be Friday, September 4. He is going to use one bereavement day, three personal days and 15 vacation days to cover his absences from September 8 to October 2.