Meet Clyde's new superintendent

CLYDE— Dennis Haft didn't originally plan to be an educator. After he received his business degree from Cleveland State University in 1986, he worked in banking but didn't enjoy it. In a change of heart, he went back to school to earn his teaching certificate from Cleveland State University and a Master's degree in Education from John Carroll University before attaining his superintendent's license from Ashland University last year. Since beginning his journey in education, he has 25 years of experience and hasn't looked back. Though now serving as interim superintendent until officially starting Aug. 1, Clyde-Green Springs Schools' newest leader comes ready to immerse himself in the community."I wanted a district that was on the smaller side because I like to really be involved and it seemed like it might be a good fit," he said.Haft most recently served as Crestview Elementary's principal in Brunswick City Schools, the district he graduated from in 1981. He's also the father of two adult children: son Mitch attends John Carroll University and daughter Emmie goes to the University of Pittsburgh. The Register recently sat down with Haft to discuss his goals and future plans for Clyde-Green Springs Schools.Here's a copy of Haft's resume and application for the Clyde super jobQ: What are your top three goals for the district?A: Number one is I want to build a unified district. That's very important to me. I want us to all view ourselves as part of the Clyde-Green Springs district and not just associate yourself with the building you work at. In addition to that, I'm really striving to have very open lines of communication. I want everyone in the district regardless of what your position is to feel very important and involved and you matter, you know. In fact, I don't want to tell you yet because I want it to be a surprise, but I have a theme for opening day that goes along with all of that. Number two is I want good relations with the community. I want to build a bigger base of support and try to get as many parents involved as possible and have more groups feel they're a part of our district. I'd like to have a good relationship with the Eagles, the VFW, groups like that, the local parishes and churches. I want everyone to feel like we're really a strong part of the community.And then lastly, you know, obviously as an educator we have to be concerned with test scores and academics. At this point I know it's been difficult for a lot of the districts to wrap their head around the testing and the new standards that are out there. I just want us to be at the forefront of really understanding what we need to do to get the students ready for what comes our way through the state department (of education).Q: What would you say are some of your strengths as an educator?A: I would say I'm very strong, I believe, at communications. I think I'm very outgoing; I love people, I really do. I'm a people person. It's funny, it always sticks with me – my first grade teacher wrote on my report card that I tend to oversocialize and 48 years later nothing's changed. I still tend to oversocialize. I really enjoy it, I love people. Honestly, I think there are very few people I don't get along with. I would (also) say in trying to empower other people and helping them to feel a measure of success and a measure of self-worth in our district is something I'm very strong at.Q: And does that go along with your educational philosophy?A: I would say so. My philosophy is kids first. I mean I think everyone, regardless of position– we're all here to service children. If you don't have a real love for children, it's difficult to be successful in any capacity in a school district. I've always said I can teach someone how to teach, but I can't teach them to love kids. So I really look for that quality and I want all of us to have that here at Clyde-Green Springs.Q: Clyde's two previous superintendents were problematic (Todd Helms, David Stubblebine), and I think what people are wondering is how will you be different?A: It was funny, the board asked me, they said: how do you get across to people who you are, how do you make a difference? Is it certain things you're going to say to people, how you going to go about it? And I said people going to get to know me and put their faith in me based on my actions and what I do. I can say the greatest things in the world but if my actions don't back it up, then it doesn't mean anything. So, I would say getting to know me and seeing how I interact with the community, seeing how I interact with children, seeing how I would interact with the rest of the employees in Clyde-Green Springs. Judge me on that, and see what my integrity level is on that.I think you'll find I'm a very straight-shooter. I don't hide anything, I don't have anything to hide. People are free to go on my Facebook page, it's kind of boring. But that's how I'm going to prove myself, through my actions and be open and honest with everyone. I think that's one of the strong points that I had coming from the school I had been at was…I really had built a reputation where everyone trusted my judgement. I very, very rarely had any irate parents. Everyone knew that whatever decision I made, even if they didn't agree with it, was on what's best for kids. I think that goes a long way.Q: What's one of the very first things you want to do right off the bat?A: One of the things I'm doing right now is get in touch and personally talk to every employee of Clyde-Green Springs Schools. I have the directory here and you can see I made it all through high school and I'm almost about halfway through middle school, so my goal is to get through this entire book and talk to everybody by August 1. It's going to take a little bit of time, but it's well worth it. I want them to know I'm approachable; I want them to know that I'm on their side on things. Again, I want to start off on a positive sense.Q: Are you meeting with them personally?A: Well, I'm calling them on the phone (laughs). I would love to do that. But unfortunately, I don't think I would have enough time to do that. I think there's almost 300 employees in the district, so phone calls are as good as I'm going to get with that. But it brings up a good point: down the road, I very much want to be involved in being in all the buildings a lot and what's going on. I know that one of the things I did as an elementary principal was I was in every single room at least two to three times a day. Walking around, checking on the kids. I knew them all by name and I knew pretty much all the families by name. That's important to me. (Haft said he oversaw 500 students at Crestview Elementary in Brunswick).Q: Are you looking for a place (to live) in town?A: That's the thing, without a doubt I'm going to live in the Clyde-Green Springs district. It's just a matter of being able to find a place.Right now I'm living in a cluster home community which you don't have to cut the grass or do anything like that. I've owned homes and done landscaping and yard work and that but I don't want it to be too big of time. I mean, my goal is at least four nights a week to be out and about in the community doing things, whether it be football games or maybe a VFW dinner or whatever's going on. I really want to be active in the community.Q: You mentioned earlier about doing something special for the first day of school. Are there any other little fun things you want to bring in and start in the district?A: You know, the things I want to do first off are things to really recognize the positive. So one of the things I want to do is sit down with all the administrators and come up with a program where we really recognize the employees in our district…when they stand out and do something maybe above and beyond that we're making sure we recognize that. What I have found over the years is when you do that, when you go out of your way to recognize, everyone works a little bit harder because they know that they're being recognized and appreciated for what they're doing.Dennis Haft, Clyde's new superintendent, sits at his desk Thursday afternoon at the Clyde-Green Springs Schools Administration and Board office.