Superintendent candidates visit Centre
MHS principal Ken Arnhold among them
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
During the past two weeks, the Centre board of education interviewed four candidates for the superintendent/K-4 position.
Several months earlier, they made the decision to return the district to the former system of administration, with a superintendent/K-4 principal and a 5-12 principal.
The current superintendent, Robert Kiblinger, has served as superintendent/principal for the entire district for the past three years. He is retiring at the end of the school year.
Kiblinger encouraged the board to make the change. He said the biggest drawback to being sole administrator was the time required to travel between two school sites, many times on a moment's notice.
The candidates are highlighted below.
Ken Arnhold
Ken Arnhold has been principal of Marion High School for nine years.
He grew up on a farm at Hays. His father, who also was a carpenter, continues to reside on the farm, and two brothers have expanded the farming operation.
Arnhold was educated in industrial arts, communications, journalism, and drafting at Ft. Hays State University.
He taught carpentry and drafting at Ellis for two years, then went to Hays High School to begin a carpentry program.
He took a job in the private sector for a time, but re-entered education when his three children were in school.
He spent 12 years at Stockton, teaching speech and journalism and coaching volleyball and cross-country. He also was a community college instructor and was involved in forensics and drama, building stage sets for play productions.
Before going to Marion, he was the K-12 principal at Miltonvale for two years.
His three children — Leah, Chelsey, and Levi — are grown.
His wife, Teri, teaches special education in Newton.
"We now have an empty nest," Arnhold said. "Stepping off to something else is a little scary, but I'm ready to be a superintendent."
He acknowledged there are areas where he will need some help, such as school finance, but he has positive feelings about the Centre school district.
"I can promote the school," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm the head cheerleader. You've created a good educational community. People come and support school activities."
He said he likes to visit classrooms and would work with staff and students to air problems and find solutions.
Jerri Kimball
Jerri Kimball grew up around Herington and attended Emporia State University.
She did some substitute teaching in the Centre school district.
Her first teaching assignment was at Herington Middle School, where she taught for 13 years before going back to college to get a master's degree in counseling.
"It taught me empathy," she said.
She became a counselor in the Chapman school district and was responsible for developing a counseling program from scratch.
"I went from a class of 30 to a K-8 program with 550 students," she said.
She served five years as a counselor under the Kansas Principal of the Year. She said she learned collaboration, i.e. being part of a team.
In 2003, she was named Kansas Counselor of the Year.
After obtaining a degree in administration, she served as principal of three small elementary schools in the Chapman school district.
She is in the process of getting her doctorate from Kansas State University and is finishing up her credentials for superintendent licensure.
Kimball lives in Herington and has family in the area. She has a daughter who is a junior at Chapman High School and a son who is a seventh grader at Herington Middle School.
Renae Hickert
Renae Hickert was born in Hugoton and has lived in western Kansas all of her life. She has been involved in education since 1985.
She received her college education at Seward County Community College, another college in the panhandle of Texas, and Ft. Hays State University.
Currently, she is principal of an alternative school at Elkhart. It serves teen-agers and adults who are seeking a high school diploma.
Hickert said she helped build the school from the bottom up. It has grown from 100 students to approximately 150.
She established an English as a Second Language program for the Hispanics living in the area and developed curriculum for the school. She also became proficient in budgeting and writing grants for federal money.
She called her time at the alternative school "an eye-opening experience."
Before Elkhart, Hickert spent 14 years in the Stanton County school district, including three as a middle school principal.
"I like the small-school atmosphere," she said. "I like teamwork. As an administrator, sometimes you need to build consensus for a change and sometimes you need to take charge."
Her husband, Tim, is an agronomy manager for a group of grain cooperatives in southeast Colorado. They have an 11-year-old daughter and a college-age son.
Doug Huxman
Doug Huxman first became a superintendent while involved in the Marion school district.
He was hired as principal of Marion Elementary and Florence Middle schools, then served as district superintendent for eight years while continuing his duties at Florence Middle School.
After leaving Marion, Huxman went to Troy, a small town west of St. Joseph, Mo. He served four years as superintendent of schools and five more as superintendent/K-6 principal.
Huxman was born at Moundridge and earned a B.A. degree at Bethel College in Newton. He has been in education for 35 years and has served in four school districts.
After teaching vocal music in Halstead for several years, he earned a master's in counseling at Emporia State University.
He went to Great Bend as a counselor and earned a degree in education administration from Ft. Hays State University. He served as a principal in the Great Bend school district before going to Marion.
In 1997, he earned a doctorate from Wichita State University.
Huxman is supportive of No Child Left Behind. He said it has some flaws, but he realizes school districts have to implement it and must produce results.
"You have envious results," he told Centre teachers.
Huxman noted he has enough points to retire but doesn't plan to do so for at least six or seven years.
He said he doesn't regard himself as an expert in everything, so he likes to gather opinions and encourage group decisions.
Addressing the need for technology in schools, Huxman said, "We don't have a choice. We have to keep up. It's a critical element in school and business. We have to prepare students for the world after graduation."
Huxman and his wife Vickie have a blended family of three grown sons and one grown daughter.
