Ortman named superintendent
Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2008
DECATUR ó Leroy Ortman, former Gravette School superintendent, has stepped up to the challenge of leading the Decatur School District as it strives to get back on its feet.
Ortman was named superintendent at a Thursday press conference by Ken James, commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education. The district will no longer have a school board, and Ortman will answer directly to James.
The State Board of Education placed the Decatur School District in fiscal distress on July 14 and voted to take control of the district July 31.
As he works to bring Decatur schools back to financial health, Ortman will face a formidable task. The district ended the 2008 school year with a negative balance, and the most recent figures show the school will be $ 510, 000 in the red by the end of next year. In addition, bank accounts havenít been balanced since 2005, and there have been no accurate financial statements for some time.
With 49 years of experience in education and a love for crunching numbers, Ortman has the expertise to help Decatur through the difficult process of getting back on track, according to James.
ě If this job can be done, I have the background and skills to do it, î Ortman said.
Ortman graduated from the Southern State Teachers College in South Dakota in 1959 with a double major in English and business. After a few years of teaching, he went on to earn his masters degree from the University of Nebraska.
Ortman bypassed the role of principal, becoming the youngest superintendent in the state of Nebraska when he was 25. Since then heís served as superintendent of small school districts in Nebraska, Iowa and most recently in Gravette, where he retired in 2005.
ě Really, Iím a small-town boy, î he said.
During Ortmanís brief retirement, he has enjoyed working outdoors, caring for his exotic fishpond and landscaping, along with spending time with his seven grandchildren. But now he is ready for the exhilaration and excitement of a challenge.
ě I will have a lot more to worry about now, î he said. Ortman said he believes the Decatur school district can be successful and that it should be fiscally possible for a school which still has two sections in each grade to stay open.
Ortman is already familiar with Decaturís financial problems since he served the school as a consultant for three weeks in July. During that time, Ortman said he became friends with former school board president Michael Wilkins and began to feel he needed to come and help the district.
ě I felt a calling to do this, î he said.
Financially, Ortman said he will begin with preparing an accurate budget for the 2008-2009 school year. Then he will be developing a cash-flow chart and reducing expenditures.
Ortman said he enjoys working with numbers and can even be entertained by them. He said he is eager to balance his bank statement each month, and finds comfort in the exactness of mathematics.
Ortman said he believes education is more than reading, writing and arithmetic. A good education will open doors throughout a personís life and keep people learning long after they have left school, he explained.
During the press conference, Ortman said his chief order of business will be to schedule a meeting with the principals to put strategies in place to improve the schoolís academics, one of the issues brought up at the July 31 State Board of Education meeting.
In his experience, Ortman said expectations from teachers, parents, families and the community have been the biggest factor in student success.
ě When the children know itís expected and the teachers know itís expected, they deliver, î he said.
It is important for children to have support from people they love and trust ó grandpas and grandmas, uncles, aunts and neighbors, he said.
As for management, Ortman believes there is strength in diversity. A team of people with many different viewpoints and ways of thinking may take longer to come up with a solution, but they will come up with a better solution, according to Ortman.
ě Itís time to start seeing some good things happen in Decatur. In this instance, failure is not an option, î he said.
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