Vermilion Schools Superintendent David Hile stepping down

VERMILION — Vermilion Schools Superintendent David Hile is leaving his post. Hile, who has led the district since August 2022, is leaving for personal reasons. He notified the district of his decision earlier this month, and the school board accepted his retirement Sept. 8, said school board President Shelly Innes. His last day will be Oct. 10. Hile came to Vermilion from Licking Valley Schools, a district about 45 miles east of Columbus, where he worked 20 years; 14 as a superintendent and before that as a principal and assistant principal. In all, he worked in education for 33 years and earned his doctoral degree in education from Miami University. He will continue to live in Vermilion. His wife, Angie, a third-grade teacher in the Firelands district, has five more years before retirement, and they have long owned a vacation home in Marblehead. "We love it here. We've been coming here for 30 years, it's one of the things that drew us to Vermilion, and where we live now we're only five miles from the beach," he said. "I'm still going to be around. I'm going to miss the people, I'm going to miss the kids. Schools are these vibrant, energetic places. I'm still going to be attending school functions, going to the games. We've built really good relationships." Of his time in the district, Hile is proud of the changes he brought to the district in introducing his "instructional core" system: bringing together rigorous, relevant curriculum, teacher knowledge and skill, and student engagement. "Those three things cause achievement," he said. "Schools do a lot of things, they're expected to do a lot of things, but when they do, the eye gets taken off the ball, which is student achievement. We put some processes in places that will improve student learning and teacher improvement." He put together collaborative teams in each building of administrators and teacher that made quarterly rounds to visit classrooms, "not evaluating teachers, but seeing is this effective learning?" Hile considered state report cards to be "crap." "I've never paid attention to them. The purpose is political, not instructional. We know, based on research, what is effective. We're promoting and training teachers what to do, and seeing if their doing it with fidelity. How can we get better at helping kids learn?" "He definitely left (our district) better than when he came three years ago," Innes said. "For one, the safety and security is top notch. That was his top priority when he came in. He was big on getting us the 911 Inform system, we were the first in the state to get that. He was instrumental in setting up what he calls the 'instructional core.' He brought a map for everybody to follow. The teachers were kind of surprised. They really liked his leadership. He's going to be missed, for sure." Replacing Hile will be Wes Weaver, who has served as assistant superintendent. The board voted to appoint Weaver as interim superintendent from Oct. 11 through July 31, the start of the next contract, Innes said. By state law, the board must notify Weaver by March 1 if they intend to keep him on after July 31, Innes said. Weaver was an assistant principal in Hile's previous district and served under Hile there and was hired as assistant superintendent in Vermilion with Hile. "They are a great team. We are very sorry to see Dr. Hile leave, but we feel very confident to have Wes become interim superintendent," Innes said. "They were very much in lockstep, and the board feels lucky to have Wes move into that position. We're confident he'll do a fantastic job." Contact Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail.com.