CLARKSVILLE - Kermit Ward is leaving the Clarksville ISD superintendent’s post to take on the same role at Vernon Independent School District in Vernon, Texas northwest of Wichita Falls.
Ward said of the decision to leave the district where he has spent the past four and a half years getting to know the district’s staff and students as well as community members.
“ It is extremely bittersweet, a difficult decision,” he said. “You can’t work at a place without building some degree of affection for the people and you care about them.”
In fact, he said, he had known about the opening since August of this year.
“I struggle with change,” he said, so he pondered his decision for months before finally telling the district his last day on the job would be Dec. 1.
In making the decision, Ward reflected on what he has accomplished in his service to the district.
“I have done what God sent me to do here,” he said. “We have here a district that is 98.7% economically disadvantaged.”
One of those things was helping the district pass a $16.7 million bond package that is currently making big changes in the district in terms of building and updated equipment.
“Not many boards have the courage to hire an African-American,” he said. “I was divinely directed here. God placed me here to do certain things.”
He credited passing the bond, the first in the district’s history, to the fact that he was an “outsider.”
He faced the obstacles, because he knew the district’s students deserved more benefits than they were receiving, and the bond passage last year was a necessity.
“These are economically disadvantaged kids,” he said. “It takes more to educate those kids. I looked around and I was getting the least amount of money than others.”
So the bond passage was a proud accomplishment for him and the school board with the students as the beneficiaries.
But one of his proudest achievements, he said, is getting the district to make college entrance exam testing done locally for those students who might have transportation issues getting out of the district to take ACT or SAT tests.
“Kids would have to go to Paris to test and pay for it,” he said. “I am proud that we now offer testing to students. We have committed a day to giving the ACT to juniors and seniors here. We have removed that financial barrier.”
“When I got here they were only offering young students core subjects, math, reading and English,” he said. “We have inserted art and music in the program. Little things like that are what I am proud of.”
He was also thankful to the board for putting faith in him to lead the district four and a half years ago, but ultimately decided it was time to move on.
“I feel it is a job I can do,” he said of his new position in Vernon.
The Vernon ISD named Ward as the lone finalist for superintendent Nov. 10 with the plan to hire him after the mandatory 21-day waiting period.
“The board is excited to support his commitment and dedication to serve students and provide a rich and rigorous education, while providing a safe school environment,” according to the Vernon ISD website.
David Money is the assistant managing editor for The Paris News. He can be reached at 903-785-6964 or david.money@theparisnews.com.
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