Superintendent Ted Haselman in the Bowling Green City Schools administrative offices.
Ted Haselman knows there are challenges facing Bowling Green City Schools.
Haselman started as superintendent Aug. 1 and by the end of last week, his belongings were still in boxes in his office.
“I haven’t even touched them. I’ve hit the ground running,” he said.
“It’s going very good,” Haselman said Friday, adding that he has been very, very busy with continuing to spend a lot of time talking with and listening to district residents.
“They have shared some concerns about the schools,” he said. “All organizations you can improved upon, so those concerns are things that I’ve listened to.”
Facilities are a main issue.
“That’s really been the biggest and the one repeated.”
The district has a $72.8 million bond request on the Nov. 7 ballot. Architects later this month will have some exterior renderings and will have the complete plan in September.
“If I tried to act like I knew how it would go, I would be pretending,” Haselman said.
Looking at everything
He said he is looking at the entire organization and sees areas that could grow, including academics, additional programming, and increased partnerships in the community.
“Those are the areas I’m really looking at.”
Haselman has met with business leaders, and officials from the city and Bowling Green State University.
A Superintendent Meet and Greet open house will take place on Monday from 5-7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. Additionally, Haselman plans to host Coffee with the Superintendent every other month.
“Anyone can show up,” he said. “I think that this community wants to be more connected with the superintendent.”
The district will be implementing a detailed communication plan that will include many different mediums for sharing information about BGCS, he said, including multiple social media posts on district accounts daily, mailed newsletters, a district quality profile publication, and a districtwide school calendar.
The communication plan will take time to implement fully, Haselman said.
He is also giving his word that anyone with consistent access to students will be vetted, and only those with a clean background will be allowed to associate with students.
“Anyone that has consistent contact with our students is going to be fingerprinted. There will be a background check through BCII and the FBI.”
This action is in response to a strength coach who was hired through a third party; he had a sex offense on his record from when he was a teen.
Haselman taught computer science at Perrysburg Middle School for 13 years before becoming Swanton Middle School principal, a position he held for five years.
He said he applied for several superintendent jobs but lost out to candidates with experience.
That led to a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Findlay.
“I love leadership. I read a lot about leadership, and I like to mentor young administrators.”
For the past eight years, Haselman has served as superintendent at Pike-Delta-York in Fulton County. He had been offered a five-year contract extension.
He said Bowling Green City Schools is about twice the size of his former district, which gives more opportunities to kids and allows for more experiences.
Haselman was one of three candidates for superintendent who were invited to a community forum earlier this year.
“I did not apply to just any district. I was selective,” he said. “There were a lot of jobs open, but I was very selective on the ones that I was interested in. And this one really, really interested me and I couldn’t be happier being here.”
The 1992 Swanton High School graduate earned his bachelor’s degree in business education from the University of Toledo and master’s degree from Marygrove College.
“Do I miss teaching? I believe as a superintendent I am still a teacher,” Haselman said.
At an administrative retreat Thursday, he told the team that throughout the year he plans to give them “administrator assignments.”
If he reads something he thinks the team needs to know about, he will send it to them and ask them to share their thoughts with him.
“In written form,” Haselman said. “That’s one way of me still being a teacher. I like mentoring administrators and helping them grow and becoming the best that they can be.”
Haselman called himself “an average guy, just like everyone else. I take my job very seriously … and take it personally on how well the organization is doing.”
He has been able to find a home in Bowling Green but has not yet moved in.
Bowling Green has embraced him from day one, he said.
“I have felt very, very welcomed and everything has been very positive.”
