Superintendent brings business skills to district

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By Dave Larsen, Staff Writer Updated 10:20 PM Wednesday, March 24, 2010

DAYTON — New Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Lori L. Ward didn’t follow the traditional career path from school principal to superintendent. She spent 13 years at IBM as a systems engineer and disaster recovery consultant before she started teaching in 1995 at Fairview Elementary School.

“I think she brings a good sense of business and organizational skills to the job,” said Tom Breitenbach, chief executive of Premier Health Partners. Breitenbach worked with Ward on the committee for the successful 2008 district levy.

“She’s both good-hearted and has good management expertise, which is a great combination,” he said.

Ward left IBM for teaching because of her daughter, Leah, a Colonel White High School grad now a junior at Ohio University, majoring in secondary education.

Ward, who traveled often for IBM, returned from one trip to learn that her infant daughter had taken her first steps while she was away.

“I was like, oh my goodness, I can’t be away from her and come back and see milestones,” Ward said.

Ward, 52, became the district’s director of information and educational technology in 1999; chief of business operations in 2007; and deputy to outgoing Superintendent Kurt Stanic in 2008.

Ward described herself as focused.

“Take care of business and we’re fine,” she said.

She vowed to hold staff to the highest expectations, rally families to support and engage schools, and leverage community support to supplement instruction.

Staff must respect one another, as well as students, and vice-versa.

“If you can’t really see us becoming a district of choice, or you can’t understand that respect really starts the relationship, then I would highly recommend people seek employment elsewhere,” Ward said.

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