By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Gary Lewis has an idea of what to expect as he prepares to take over as regional superintendent of schools for Champaign and Ford counties.
He will need to deal with people who possess a wide-ranging assortment of ideas and interests, goals and expectations.
It’s not unlike when he is at home, living in a house divided.
“I’m the only Cardinal fan at the house,” Lewis said.
His wife – the former Amy Scharlau – and their sons, 18-year-old Brady and 13-year-old Quinn have more of an interest in the Cubs.
They all get along, and that is Lewis’ expectation as he replaces Jane Quinlan (who is now on the State Board of Education) for a job that covers 15 school districts from Gibson City to Tolono and from Mahomet to Ogden.
The 50-year-old Lewis has served five school districts in the past 22 years. He believes each role helped prepare him for the next step in his journey.
“As you move up in education, you make a broader impact,” Lewis said. “As a coach, you affect those kids that you are coaching. As a teacher, it’s your classroom.
“As a principal, it’s your building, and as superintendent, it’s the district.”
Now, his reach will extend to a geographical area which is close to 1,500 square miles.
He is finishing his 10th year as a superintendent. The past four have been at Oakwood.
Wednesday’s upcoming school board meeting will be his last official duty with that Vermilion County district.
On July 1, he will start work at his new office, on Champaign’s Olympian Drive.
In addition to his previous coaching, teaching and administrative roles, Lewis’ job description has included being in charge of grounds and of special education at some of his stops.
“Moving around to different positions has helped me,” he said. “I’ve got a pretty good grasp of everything that goes on in schools.”
Lewis has worked in schools as small as 95 students (Sheldon) to districts with more than 1,400 students (Westville).
His biggest transition now will be in working with districts such as Champaign and Urbana, which have a combined student enrollment approaching 15,000.
“I have no frame of reference for that size school,” Lewis said.
What he has is a vision for his new job.
First and foremost is to not undertake any massive changes.
“I’ll keep things the way Jane had them going,” Lewis said. “She did an outstanding job.”
A focus for Lewis will be on students who are not on a college-bound path.
“One goal is to help kids in schools who don’t want to go to college,” said Lewis, who is hopeful that the state will approve a curriculum under consideration that would allow students to work and get high school credit.
Lewis knows first-hand of the need.
“When we (at various schools) work on buildings, it’s more and more limited who is available to work,” he said. “I would like to get in touch with local trade unions and start learning stuff in high school.
“I want to give as many options to kids as I can. If they don’t want to go to college, give them a path to be successful.”
Lewis will have a lengthy list of items that will be his responsibility, including compliance, building occupancy, state technology, agriculture education, teacher licensing and fingerprinting, GEDs and, he added, “I’m sure I will find more stuff I’m in charge of.”
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A 1987 St. Joseph-Ogden High School graduate, Lewis has lived in his hometown for the past 17 years.
It was the influence of various SJ-O teachers and coaches who helped Lewis select a career path in education.
Basketball coach Randy Wolken and baseball coach Dave Markwell were instrumental as role models, but Lewis said, “Mr. (Mike) McKenzie (social studies teacher) was the guy who hooked me on it.”
When Lewis graduated from MacMurray College in 1992, it was with a degree in history.
“I wanted to coach,” he said.
He soon had opportunities at Villa Grove (girls’ basketball) and at Heritage (baseball), which fit nicely into his day job at Gery & Al’s.
Lewis then opted to spend time at the college level and was a baseball coach at Rockford College for two years.
He was also the sports information director, the intramural sports director and served as an assistant at the Fitness Center.
“If my wife wanted to see me, she had to come to school,” Lewis said.
With his teaching certification in hand, Lewis accepted his first classroom position at Sheldon in the fall of 1997.
“Initially, I thought I would just teach and coach,” he said, “but it got to the point where I liked practices better than I liked the games.”
When he was offered a mid-year appointment as principal at Tri-Point (in Piper City), Lewis moved full speed ahead after two years at Sheldon.
“I enjoyed working with kids and building their skills,” Lewis said. “I took that approach with teachers, building their skills.
“Coaching helped me build leadership skills.”
Part of his experience involved a type of on-the-job training.
“You don’t know what a principal does until you become one,” Lewis said.
Lewis went to Westville for two years as the junior high principal and then stayed for three more years as the district’s assistant superintendent.
His first superintendency was in 2007-08 at Shiloh, where he replaced a longtime SJ-O teacher and coach, Jim Acklin.
During a subsequent six-year stint as superintendent at Catlin, that district consolidated with Jamaica to form Salt Fork, which had originally been formed in the 1990s as only a sports cooperative between the two districts.
After multiple stops, Lewis is ready for a more permanent position. He may have found it as the regional superintendent of schools.
“I think this is where I could end my career,” he said.
Ironically, he may not have the final say-so. The regional superintendent job is an elected position and is on the ballot for voters every four years.
This year, Lewis was unopposed.
Though he has been out of high school coaching for nearly two decades, Lewis hasn’t left the sporting world totally behind.
“I still have kids (from the past) reach out to me,” he said.
Larry Maynard, who most recently has worked at Potomac, will replace Lewis as the superintendent at Oakwood. Maynard’s appointment is effective July 1.
