By JOHN EBY
Dowagiac Daily News

And then there were two.

Dowagiac Board of Education called two special meetings in the hometowns of superintendent finalists.

The board’s itinerary Friday, June 18, calls for a visit to Albion to follow up on Superintendent Fred Clarke’s three years improving that district.

Describing himself as visible and approachable, Clarke returned to Dowagiac June 14. “There are a lot of attractive communities in Michigan and this is certainly one of them,” said the Saginaw native whose career has taken him to Texas, where he met his wife, and Champaign, Ill., where he had a technical administrative post.

On Monday, June 21, the school board will spend the day in Leo, Ind., to scrutinize the high-performing junior-senior high school led by Principal Dr. Mark Daniel the last 13 years.

In his visit to Dowagiac June 8, Daniel portrayed himself as a community partnership builder and said this city “excites me. I see opportunity and potential.”

With his business background, Daniel concludes, “Continuation of the norm can’t happen any more in public schools. The status quo is no longer acceptable if we’re going to compete in today’s marketplace.”

Daniel graduated from high school in Fort Wayne.