Next Marion superintendent will focus on finance

MARION - Joseph 'Chris” Dyer, the next superintendent of the Marion Independent School District, will focus on finances and school facilities as he transitions into the role, he said Thursday.

Dyer's selection was announced Thursday by the Marion school board after it approved his contract. He has worked as the superintendent of the roughly 600-student Tuckahoe Common School District in Southampton, N.Y. since 2010.

Dyer, 68, will replace retiring superintendent Sarah Pinion, whose last day is June 30. Pinion announced her retirement in January and has led Marion schools since 2009.

Dyer said he looks forward to meeting and talking with Marion community members about their interests and concerns.

'I would like to listen to people particularly with the finances and the facilities,” he said. 'I'd like to see what the capital plan looks like, what the budget looks like, how that's projected out.”

David Law, the school board president, said Dyer's skill set would provide a 'natural progression” from what the district has done under Pinion in those areas.

'We really want to continue to move forward,” Law said. 'We would like to be on the cutting edge, but we don't want to be someone else's research and development.”

Dyer said his experience as an administrator in three states - New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia - has helped him understand school budgets. His current district, Dyer said, has had financial difficulty in part because of a New York law limiting how much schools can raise in taxes.

'Schools have to operate like a business,” he said, meaning expenses cannot exceed revenues.

Dyer's family has Iowa ties - his wife grew up in Iowa City, and one son is a science teacher in Shenandoah. Dyer received an education specialist degree from Virginia Tech University and is an Army veteran.

Law and Dyer said they did not discuss any expectations about how long he would work as superintendent. Law said the board was aware that superintendents statewide only stay in one district for an average of four to five years.

Dyer said he hoped to stay in Marion as long as he had a 'collaborative, collegial, productive partnership” with the district.

'I enjoy working for communities that love their children and believe in their children and have high expectations for their children,” he said. 'I think that's Marion.”

The benefits of hiring an experienced superintendent include better knowledge of school law and how to deal with legislators, Law said.

'I respect the energy that youth could bring to any position,” Law said. 'But we didn't set that as a priority or a dealbreaker.”

Dyer and Pinion said they likely will work together on a transition over the next two months.

Dyer will start either July 1 or July 15. He asked the board to start July 15, board members said. The board agreed to give him that option, but voted to reduce his moving expenses by $2,500 if he started July 15.

Dyer said he had not yet received a final contract to sign, but he planned to agree to the board's changes. He would receive $10,000 in moving expenses if he started July 1.

Dyer's salary for the 2015-16 school year will be $160,000, not including the moving expenses, said district business manager John Donner.

Dyer first interviewed with the Marion school board via Skype earlier this month. He met last week with the board, administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents and businesspeople.

In hiring Dyer, the board passed up Michael Houselog, a superintendent in Belvidere, Ill.