January 19, 2006

By Diane Chiddister

YSHS and McKinney School Principal John Gudgel announced last week that he is not seeking the position of superintendent of Yellow Springs schools, and that he plans to stay in his current job.

“My heart is dedicated to the students at Yellow Springs High School and McKinney School,” Gudgel said during the Jan. 12 meeting of the Yellow Springs Board of Education, where he announced his decision about the superintendent’s position.

Last spring, the school board publicly expressed interest in offering the superintendent job to Gudgel after the retirement of current Superintendent Tony Armocida, whose contract ends in July 2007. Armocida said at the time that he would probably retire around that date, although he has not officially announced his retirement.

Rich Bullock, who was president of the school board, suggested that Armocida serve as mentor to Gudgel if Gudgel chose to accept the position.

At the time, Gudgel expressed interest in the job but said he needed to consider the offer over the summer.

A graduate of Yellow Springs High School, Gudgel came to the school 25 years ago as a teacher and has spent the last 10 years as principal of the high school and middle school.

In an interview last Friday, Gudgel said that after “consultation with family, prayer and thought” he has decided to stay in his current job.

“I feel right now that I’m more of a benefit to the district in my capacity as principal” than as superintendent, Gudgel said. “I believe my talents are most effective here at the school.”

Gudgel said he enjoys spending his days with students and fellow teachers, and believes he can more positively influence young people as principal.

“I think as a principal you see the immediate impact of your efforts more than you would as superintendent,” he said.

In a separate interview Friday, Armocida said he was not surprised by Gudgel’s decision.

“I’m not surprised, knowing John, that he would choose to stay with his students and his school,” Armocida said. “He’s probably the most student-centered administrator I know, and being away from daily contact with kids would be hard for him.”

Gudgel’s decision to stay will be “good for the school and good for the kids,” Armocida said.

Still, Armocida said, “I would have been proud to have him as my successor.”

Armocida said he has not yet officially decided whether he will retire in July 2007, but that “right now if I’m being asked, I’d say I’ll probably retire then or a little sooner.”

According to Angela Wright, who was elected school board president during the meeting last week, the board will soon organize a board committee to begin working on the superintendent selection process.

The board has also agreed to work with the Weissman Group, a Dayton consulting group that helped the board eight years ago in its selection of Armocida.

“We’ve been through this process before and it worked really well, so we’ll go in the same direction,” Wright said.

She also said that the superintendent search will include a community forum to offer villagers a chance to identify the kind of superintendent that they want for Yellow Springs.

Gudgel said he currently plans to stay at YSHS and McKinney. He has had a “number of opportunities” to move to other jobs, he said, but a new job would have to be exceedingly attractive to take him away from this community.

“They say there is no place like home,” Gudgel said. “This is home.”

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com