Lake Orion School Board OKs 3 New Hires

New staff hires – including an interim principal for the high school – was the hot topic at Wednesday night’s .

The board unanimously approved hiring Tom Tobe of Farmington to fill in as interim principal at starting Jan. 3. Current principal Sophia Lafayette applied for and received the district’s Director of Technology position and will be leaving the high school come the new year. The board noted it was exceptionally pleased to have Tobe as the interim principal because he filled in during the 2009-10 school year for the high school – prior to finding Lafayette to take over.

According to Larry Lobert, assistant superintendent of human resources for the district, Tobe has more than 30 years of administration experience. He retired from Livonia School District in 2007 and since then has been taking positions as interim principals in various school districts.

“You just couldn’t stay away, could you?” Lake Orion school board President Mary Jo Burchart joked with Tobe at the meeting at the school district’s Administration Building.

Lobert noted that he would like the board to take its time to find a quality candidate; specifically one who will resonate well with the community, students, parents and the district’s mission. He suggested starting to advertise the position in January and February, and hopefully having a candidate in mind by May. Because Tobe is well acquainted with the district, and Lobert noted quality candidates will probably have obligations to the districts they are serving through the end of this school year, Lobert said the starting date is projected to be close to the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.

“We should meet with staff, parents and the community to get a clear vision of what the community needs in its next principal,” Lobert said. “Let’s use this time to do a quality job and find someone to start the next school year with us.”

In addition to Tobe, two other new staff members met the board’s unanimous approval Wednesday:

• Amanda Keltz was hired as a third-grade teacher at Pine Tree Elementary School. Keltz, who recently interned at Pine Tree, will be taking over the third-grade position that was vacated earlier in the year by a teacher departing the district.
• Josephine Leddie is the third new staff member, approved as a part-time psychologist for the school district. Leddie will not be available to start with Lake Orion until Feb. 10.