Two small southern Gratiot County school districts will be trying a rare collaboration, hiring one person to serve as the superintendent of both districts.
The school boards from Ashley Community Schools and Fulton Schools agreed to select Ryan Portenga, principal at Pewamo-Westphalia Middle/High School, as their next superintendent.
The superintendents from both school districts, Thomas Torok in Fulton and Traci Gavenda in Ashley, both announced their retirements this year.
Fulton posted the job opening in the winter and the board was readying to find their new district leader when Karla Childers, Fulton Schools’ Board of Education president, got a phone call.
Paul Hungerford, who leads the Gratiot-Isabella Regional Education Service District, was calling with an idea. He said Ashley Community Schools was looking for a new superintendent, too, and the district’s board members wanted to know if Fulton leaders would be interested in working together to hire one superintendent for both districts.
“I brought it back to my full board and I said … ‘I’m interested in exploring this option. What do you guys think?'” she said. “Everybody was on board.”
She said they spoke with current teachers and administrators as well, and everyone was in support of trying out the partnership.
“There will be some challenges just in getting to know the lay of the land before getting going, but certainly a challenge I’m up for,” Portenga said.
The two boards met and worked out a plan, Childers said.
Childers said while the arrangement will be new to the districts, collaboration between them isn’t a first. The two school districts already team up for some athletics programs, so it felt like a natural fit.
Childers said the plan is to split the salary and benefits between the district down the middle.
“This is a true partnership,” she said. “We’re also hoping with this collaboration that we can maybe consolidate some other programs in the future. We don’t want to jump in and make all of these changes now, but we see a huge opportunity for cost savings that will free up some funding so we can provide so much more for our students.”
Portenga said he’s looking forward to meeting with stakeholders to find out what direction people want to see their school districts going toward and finding the ways to make it happen.
“I’m honored to carry the torch in this aspect of educational leadership,” he said. “Education is always evolving, it’s always pivoting. Sometimes it’s internal based upon what the community wants. Sometimes change is led through external pressures such as state law or policy.”
While Portenga will be the sole leader of two districts, he said he’ll be treating them separately, honoring each district’s history while searching for different programs and projects to keep moving both districts forward.
“Each school district has rich histories and proud traditions and I look forward to honoring both while looking to the future with a creative lens and mindset,” he said.
Childers said that the two small districts joining forces for this initiative will hopefully be an opportunity to prove to other small districts that there are opportunities for growth.
“I just feel like when we were first approached with this scenario, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this could be awesome. Let’s explore that.’ and how smoothly things have gone so far, all of us are so excited,” Childers said. “We are just so excited for Ryan. He is amazing, he is going to bring so much to the table for both districts, and we’re just so excited to see where this goes.”
While the collaboration is rare, it isn’t the first of its kind.
“It’s very exciting, and maybe this is just one step closer to other districts doing this,” Childers said. “Let’s be honest, declining enrollment in the state of Michigan is crazy right now. Every year we see a decline … and I just feel like if there’s a way we can save money … and get ahead of the game, we’re going to be able to provide more for our kids.”
Portenga has not signed his official contract yet.
Jay Kulbertis works as the superintendent of two school districts in the Western Upper Peninsula, Gladstone Area Public Schools and Rapid River Schools. More than 1,500 students are enrolled at Gladstone, according to MI School Data, while Rapid River has 242 enrolled.
Kulbertis was hired as the Gladstone superintendent in 2007, and five years later he was asked to lead Rapid River because the two districts were already familiar with one another’s business offices.
After leading two districts for 15 years, he said he believes different rural school districts could benefit from consolidation.
“I’ve pitched it in other places, I’ve talked to other superintendents and other school board president who might be open to the idea,” he said. “We just got really lucky here.”
He said district rivalries and micromanaging can cause issues for districts trying out the collaboration, but it wasn’t something he experienced in Gladstone and Rapid River.
Kulbertis said he thinks small districts can benefit from sharing one superintendent or one business manager, for example, but being communicative is an important part of helping make sure everyone has a good idea of what’s happening behind the curtain.
“Be mindful that there are a whole lot of advantages that you don’t see until you’re traveling down that road, because no one has that perspective of both district’s right now,” Kulbertis said. “I told Ryan, he’s gonna have to be careful because for awhile he’s going to be the only one who sees behind the curtain of both districts.”
Kulbertis told the State Journal that both school boards will need to manage their expectations and know that one person can’t be everywhere all at once, so it will be important to build a team trusted professionals.
“I think it’s a great move,” Kulbertis said. “(Portenga) really seems like he’s excited about it and doing his homework and I think if everyone postpones their prejudgment and gives it a chance, they’re going to be surprised by the advantages that they discover.”
In Ashley, the district used to sit at around 250 students enrolled, and has seen a sharp decline since 2022. This year, 184 students are enrolled.
A decade ago, Fulton Schools had nearly 750 students enrolled. This year, just 514 attend the K-12 districts.
Districts earn per-pupil funding, so every time a student leaves the district, less money is distributed to the schools. Especially for small districts like Ashley or Fulton, finding cost-saving opportunities is crucial.
Enrollment is down by more than 100,000 students statewide in the last 10 years.
“We’ve seen trends in enrollment across the state, we’ve seen rural America hit by declining enrollment,” Portenga said. “I’m excited to pivot with education and look outside the box at ways we can improve efficiencies while sustaining and even looking at where we can improve the quality of education for all students.”
Contact Karly Graham at kgraham@lsj.com. Follow her on X at @KarlyGrahamJrn.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: 2 rural Michigan school districts agree to share superintendent
Reporting by Karly Graham, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
