Joel McKinney has been waiting for quite some time to become the Community Schools of Frankfort Superintendent. On Tuesday night, the wait finally ended as McKinney was unanimously named to the position replacing the retiring Don DeWeese.
“Working under Don for these eight year has given me an opportunity to see what leadership is really like,” said McKinney. “Don is top notch when it comes to superintendents in the state of Indiana. The opportunity to work in this school corporation and serve the kids here is a big deal for me.”
McKinney was given a three-year contract and officially takes over on January 12, 2021, the day after DeWeese retires after nine years in the position.
“Joel has all the skills, has all the knowledge necessary to do this job,” said DeWeese. “Then you throw in that he’s been in this district in a senior leadership position for eight years. He is perfect to just keep moving on and improving this organization on the education for the boys and girls in this community.”
CSF Board President Karen Sutton called McKinney’s hiring “a slam dunk”.
“He has done an excellent job as the assistant superintendent and he is very well qualified,” said Sutton.
McKinney said his time in the district will be extremely valuable to him.
“It makes a big difference when you know the community well like I do,” said McKinney. “The familiarity will certainly give me a leg up.”
Besides naming the new superintendent, the board also unanimously approved its school reopening plan. School has been out since mid to late March and the board wants to have students back in the classroom.
“I think we have a good plan,” said Sutton. “As we said this evening, it’s not the perfect plan. But I do believe that we’ve got a good plan that can work and we’re going to do the best we can do.”
Other board members concurred with Sutton.
“This plan was very well thought out and well organized,” said board member Kristin Beardsley. “We’re going to do our best possible job to make this work.”
Board member Mark Sheets added, “This is unchartered waters for all of us and it is scary. I don’t think there will ever be a perfect plan.
DeWeese said they created seven different task forces and had them work on a specific area. All the information was gathered together and put into a plan which was then looked over by the Clinton County Health Department.
DeWeese will be around for the next several months to help McKinney with the transition to his new role.
“Don has done an amazing job,” said Sutton. “I’ve been on the board for six years and I admire his true, true love for all of the students. He focuses on the kids all the time. He loves the community, he loves the school district and it shows in his daily interactions with everybody.”