When Dr. Michael Lindley arrived at the Niles Community Schools in March 2014 to serve a 14-month term as superintendent of schools, he faced a host of problems.

His predecessor had resigned amid controversy regarding faculty, administrators and curriculum. The mood in the halls of the many buildings that make up the Niles Community Schools was generally one of pessimism and worry.

Dr. Lindley brushed aside the pessimism and replaced that mood with a sense of mission and determination; soon the corridors of our schools began to brighten. His focus was on the students first, and the schools and faculty second.

Michael Lindley has been an educator for 42 years, after receiving his Doctorate in Education Administration at Ball State University. But his curriculum vitae doesn’t end there.

Dr. Lindley has been an elementary and middle school teacher, a principal and assistant superintendent of schools. He served as superintendent of schools for three different school districts.

He is also the current Vice Chair of the Lake Michigan College Board

of Trustees.

Need I say more?

Yes, I do need to say more!

Superintendent Lindley was able to accomplish something that no other Niles Community School superintendent was able to do in the past 24 years. He led the campaign for a successful millage increase on May 5, 2015. His millage vote success rate over the years is now an impressive 6 for 7!

Thanks to his determination and leadership, the community has become united behind its schools and those schools will be better equipped, safer for our students, and more modern, comfortable and efficient places of learning. This will give the students of Niles Community Schools the advantages they will need as they prepare for their futures. These students are now being taught by teachers and faculty that are more enthusiastic, confident and proud than any time in the past several years.

So how do you fill the void that Dr. Lindley is leaving behind? The Niles Board of Education had been asking themselves that same question since they hired this interim dynamo.

After a thorough search, they found the answer in Dr. Dan Applegate, a former administrator with 15 years of experience in the Niles Community Schools. Dan began his term as the new Niles superintendent last month. He had been serving as the coordinator of assessment and accreditation at St. Mary’s College for the past three years. His return to Niles, while only a few miles away from St. Mary’s, was apparently an easy transition for the 45-year old educator. After all, how many people received a standing ovation at their final job interview?

I think we all know that the Niles Board of Education made the right decision in filling Dr. Michael Lindley’s shoes with the capable and equally determined Dan Applegate.

With back-to-back dynamic leadership, our students are the big winners now!

 

Jack Strayer is a graduate of Niles High School and serves as Vice Chair of the Niles Education Foundation.