“The children of Graham are so special to me, and so many staff who do so much with so little to make amazing things happen in our classrooms,” Koennecke said. “I’ll miss that.”
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Koennecke said there are so many examples of innovations students and staff have displayed in order to improve services within Graham.
“Graham’s community is so lucky to have such a hard-working staff,” Koennecke said. “I look forward to new challenges and the opportunity to live and work in a unique school community such as Indian Hill.”
Indian Hill was ranked the third best high school in Ohio by US News and World Report earlier this month.
Graham Local Schools Board of Education President Ryan Pine said Koennecke made an “immediate, positive impact on the school community.”
“The Graham Board of Education fully understands why Indian Hill Schools would offer Kirk a superintendent position,” Pine said. “Kirk and his wife Susie have been important contributors to this team over the past three years, and we wish them nothing but continued success.”
Pine said Koennecke will assist the Graham Board of Education with the superintendent transition.
“Our next superintendent will help us continue the work to realize our shared vision to create future ready students,” Pine said.
Pine said the Board will post a job announcement for superintendent as soon as possible and conduct interviews within the coming weeks.
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“It is a tight timeline, but the goal is to hire a quality candidate in June,” Pine said.
Before Koennecke was hired as superintendent of Graham Local School in 2017, he was the principal at Harding High School in Marion for four years. He also served as the principal of Springfield High School from 2009 to 2013.
“Over the last three years, we have seen much growth and positive change in our culture at Graham. We thank Kirk for his focus on the education our students deserve.”
It’s been a hectic week for the Graham Local Schools district.
Koennecke’s announcement comes a week after he was named as one of the three finalists for a superintendent position in Urbana, Ill. and five days after voters again rejected a 1 percent additional earned income tax to help fund Graham Local Schools.
The levy failure will mean $600,000 in budget cuts for the 2019-2020 school year, according to previous comments from Pine after the election.
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