The Clyde-Green Springs Board of Education officially hired Dennis Haft as the district’s superintendent during a special board meeting last Thursday at the board office in downtown Clyde.
Haft signed a three-year contract which will pay him $110,000 a year.
“Thank you very much for putting your trust in me. I can’t thank you enough,” Haft said as he addressed the board after being hired. “I think during our first interview one of the things I told you was, ‘I won’t disappoint you; I won’t embarrass you. I will make you very proud that you hired me.’ One of the biggest things that’s important to me is building trust. I know that over time we will build a lot of trust in the community and with one another.”
Haft comes to Clyde from the Brunswick City School District where he served as the principal of Crestview Elementary for 16 years. He grew up in Brunswick, graduated from Brunswick High School and was a principal in the district for 17 years.
While he admits leaving Brunswick wasn’t easy, it’s a decision he doesn’t have any regrets about.
“Of course, it’s bittersweet. At the same point I feel really, really good about it,” he said. “I don’t have any regrets, whatsoever. I know it was the right thing to do. If you’re going to grow as a human, you have to get out of your comfort zone sometime.
“I felt I had made a major impact with the community there, and I really wanted to climb another mountain. I felt I could make a large impact at a district level, as opposed to a building level.”
The board unanimously voted in favor of hiring Haft to the position. He will officially begin serving as the district’s superintendent on Aug. 1. His contract runs through July 31, 2019.
“We’re excited to officially get Dennis into the position,” board of education president Matt Jenne said. “We look forward to him taking over and continuing to move us forward. We’ve got a lot of good things going on; we’ve got a lot of good personnel, and he’s the missing piece.”
The first thing that Haft looks to do as superintendent is build a relationship of trust with the CGS community.
“The biggest thing I want to do right now is build a strong relationship with the community. Trust is very important to me, and I want them to feel they can trust me. I’m a very open person. They can come to me if they want to discuss anything.
“I also want to build a strong cohesiveness with the staff and all employees. I want them to all focus on the fact that we’re here for the kids.”
Haft feels that his experience as a principal in a bigger school district has given him a number of tools that will lead to success in his new role in Clyde.
“Think the biggest thing that I bring is an understanding of what it takes to build cohesion in an organization and how to build that trust,” Haft said. “There are certain fundamental principles I believe you’ve got to have as a leader. One of them is a transparency. Another is you’re not just talking the talk, you’re walking the walk. Another is to make everyone feel important in the district.”
Haft currently lives in Medina but plans to move to the Clyde area in the very near future.
