Meet Huron's newest school leaders

HURON — Huron Schools' newest leaders are ready to connect with the community. After more than a year without full-time executives, the district hired both superintendent James Tatman and treasurer Paul DeMarco this year to start a new era for the school district. Tatman was most recently Olmsted Falls Schools' chief operating officer but was an intervention specialist at Huron Schools in the early 2000s. He's been an administrator at Wellington and Olmsted Falls schools since 2011 and was an adjunct professor at Baldwin-Wallace University in 2017. DeMarco taught various social studies courses at Monroeville Schools, Oberlin College and the University of Toledo, according to his resume. He earned his master's degree in business administration, with a concentration in finance, from Cleveland State University in 2018. DeMarco has more than 20 years in teaching experience but switched to working in school finance within the past year. As of late July, both seek to live in the district in the near future. Tatman and DeMarco recently sat down for an interview with the Register to introduce themselves and explain their priorities. Q: Why did both of you apply to work for Huron Schools? Tatman: I student-taught here in 2004, so I was familiar with the district. The appeal for me is the size of the district. It's a small district where I'm going to get to learn about the students, parents and community members, engage with them and be part of the district. If you look at bigger districts, a lot of times, it's a person really far removed from the classroom, kids and staff. That's not interesting to me. What's interesting to me is a district this size with a lot of community pride — a lot of pride — in the schools. For Huron, it was like coming back home. DeMarco: I've always liked Huron, the physical location, plus I think it's a nice place to live, so that was important for me. I do want to live in the district. I taught at Monroeville Schools for 21 years, and I thought Huron was an ideal place to live because it seems like you're not more than 15 minutes from anywhere. It's a nice, safe, relaxed community. The schools' performance has been awesome, so I was looking for a place where my kids could go to school. Prior to living in Fostoria, I lived in Amherst, so it's kind of like coming home even though I'm not from here. Q: (for DeMarco): What was it like for you to go from teaching to being a treasurer? DeMarco: I was in the first group to pursue a new path to get licensure to become a treasurer. You have to have the academic background. I have a master's degree in business administration, and then you have to take school finance courses. There's a shortage of treasurers in the state right now. There's not enough people with the license to cover all the jobs. The coursework is rigorous — it's intense. Transitioning (to this job) was difficult. When school starts, I really only have contact with administrators and school board members. That was tough after being a teacher for so long. I do like the work as a treasurer; it's a lot, but it's challenging and you're never bored. Q: What's it been like to meet community members? DeMarco: I'm starting to through different committees and things like that. Something that we have to do is to build those relationships with the community, like we'll meet with the city manager on a regular basis. I'm Catholic, so I'm going to join the (St. Peter) church. I'm going to start digging in like I'm living here since I expect to do that. Tatman: We were at River Fest, we had a booth and we did the parade. You don't have a lot of time to talk to people while you're handing out water bottles on the parade route, but at the booth, people came up to us. They shared with us their pride in the schools and the community and their excitement for the future ahead. Have there been challenges? Sure. Most districts across the country have gone through challenges the last several years. Huron isn't insulated from that; Huron's had its issues. But looking forward, everyone's excited about the opportunities ahead. Meeting with (city manager) Matt Lasko from the city and other individuals who have been here for a long time and know Huron — they're really optimistic about the future of Huron and really interested in mutually beneficial partnerships, so it's great that we're not competing with the city and the township. The success of the city and the schools are interlocked: One can't be successful when the other isn't. We'll work closely with them and make sure that our initiatives are in line with what the city's also doing. The school board members have a good pulse of the community. When they were at the booth, it was interesting how there were different individuals talking to them and then meeting us. Our five board members have overlapping but different circles. So when we engage that community, it's going to get a good coverage of the whole community, not just a single circle. Q: What challenges do Huron Schools have, and how do you plan to address them? Tatman: We've had two failed operating levies, so finances are going to be a challenge. District enrollment isn't growing, some would say it's declining slightly, so we'll have to adjust to the enrollment. Four buildings come with an expense. There have been studies that the district has already done with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. They've made their recommendations and the board, and the facilities committee are processing them, so there'll be some things coming down the pipe about facilities. The four facilities we have are aging, so we either need to renovate or start new. We want to make that decision with fiscal mindfulness as well as know what the learning environment our students are coming to school every day in — is it conducive for learning, or are there ways we can make it better? The facilities committee and Paul and I have met twice now, and it's still the idea that we need to get our arms around the fiscal aspect, and, from there, that will drive what our decisions will be. It's about timing and being respectful to taxpayers' money. We don't want to keep going back to them but want to show our due diligence of using the resources they're already providing wisely. There's not a hard timeline with that. It depends on how quickly we can work through that and build those relationships and trust. DeMarco: The board members know it's going to take a while for me to get a good grasp on where we're at financially. I have a rough draft of where we're at and where we're going to be a year from now. It takes a while to do that. It's looking at thousands of lines of spending so I can give them information about where we're at. We don't want to go to the taxpayers if we don't have to. Unfortunately, with the nature of how schools are funded, especially districts like Huron where we get little help from the state, it puts a lot on our local taxpayers. Tatman: It's best to start at the beginning, so talking about facilities and finances is a little bit further down the road than what I'm thinking. In 2015, the district started a strategic plan, Vision 2020, and they were making good progress on that. I reviewed the reports that were provided annually. In late 2019 into 2020, it came to a stop with the pandemic, so I'd like to start there. In the strategic plan, it talks about engaging, equipping and empowering students, so I'd like to get back with the staff, students, parents and community at large to say 'Are those still our values?' or 'Have we progressed past that?' We either want to revise the plan or start fresh and get something that everyone can come together and say this is going to be Huron moving forward. With that, the finances and facilities conversations and more will happen. Q: How do you see yourself and the district communicating with stakeholders about possibly revising the strategic plan? Tatman: I see it's an advantage that I'm not yet living in the community because it'll ensure that I'm being meaningful and purposeful about seeking the voice of the community. There'd be a review of the information we share out but also through surveys or through town hall-like events where people can come share information with us, find out where we're at and where we'd like to go. The River Fest booth was a first attempt, and it won't be our last attempt, but, hopefully, people will start to see there are opportunities for them to come talk and be heard. Q: What do you want stakeholders to know about who you are as people? Tatman: I'm student-centered, so decisions I make are going to be in the best interest of students. We're going to build around that. I'm always going to listen to others. I want to hear their perspectives and consider their input. It doesn't mean I'm going to do what they say, but doing what's best for students will drive that decision. I'm a teacher, so I like to teach, support and grow others around me, so I'll work to build the administrative team, which will build the teacher team and support staff team because we're all in it together. The success of all of us depends on each other. I'm also approachable, so if they see me out and about, they can come up to me and share ideas and tell me who they are. DeMarco: With James being the voice and face of the district, it's rare that the treasurer gets questions from the public, but I'd love it if anyone wants to talk about finances with me. Every member of our board uses the word transparency a lot. They want everything to be public. In my job, it's the numbers, and they will be transparent. It's the law but also there's no sense to hide good or bad data. It's where we're at. I'll be available to answer questions, and I'll also put out information I believe the public would like to know. With both of us coming in at the same time, it's like pushing a reset button for the district. Ideally, you don't want the two executives to come in at the same time, but the board knows the community, so we'll let them guide us and we'll build relationships. It's going to take time. For questions, comments and concerns, community members can contact Tatman at jtatman@huron-city.k12.oh.us and DeMarco at pdemarco@huron-city.k12.oh.us. Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com and follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood - Appreciate news from your communiity? Click here to subscribe to the Register.