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The Springfield News-Sun has reported on every development in the hiring of Northeastern’s new superintendent. You can count on us to keep you up to date on all the key local education issues.
The Northeastern Local School District has hired John Kronour as the new superintendent of Clark County’s second-largest school system.
Kronour will oversee about 3,600 students in the district, which operates seven schools on five campuses, including Northeastern and Kenton Ridge high schools.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to get into the district and learn as much as I possibly can as quickly as I can and keep promoting the good things that are going on,” he said.
Kronour was among eight candidates who interviewed in May for the position. He will replace Lou Kramer, who has been hired as the superintendent at nearby London City Schools.
Northeastern Board of Education President Linda Jordan said Kronour was selected because the board was impressed with his qualifications and experience.
“He stood out as a person who could lead our district into the future and maintain our educational excellence that we have in our district,” Jordan said.
Kronour will start Aug. 1 at Northeastern, where his base salary will be $120,000 annually. Kramer had earned $118,000 annually.
Prior to being named the Northeastern superintendent, Kronour also interviewed to become superintendent at the Tecumseh and Northwestern school districts.
Kronour retired as superintendent of the Tipp City Exempted Village Schools at the end of the school year after his request to retire and then be rehired was not supported by its board of education.
He had been the Tipp City superintendent for 8 1/2 years. His last day with the district will be June 30.
Kronour is a father of four children, who all attend Tipp City schools. His wife, Amy, passed away suddenly in 2010, according to his bio.
He said he retired and then sought another superintendent position because of financial reasons. He plans to use the retirement money to help fund his children’s college education.
Kronour said he wanted the Northeastern position because of the district’s similarities to Tipp City schools.
“I definitely saw it as an opportunity to bring the experiences I’ve had in education and hopefully continue to work with the district and see it grow and be even more successful,” Kronour said.
He said he plans to work with others to develop priorities for the district.
“Right now, it’s hard for me to say that it’s A or B or C,” said Kronour about his priorities going into the job. “It’s really getting in and finding out as much as I possibly can and really working with everyone involved to really establish what those are.”
Kronour’s does not plan to move into the Northeastern district at this point because of his children.
He said his twins are going to be seniors and he wants them to finish school in Tipp City, then he’ll re-evaluate whether to move the other two children to Northeastern schools.
Kronour worked previously at Oakwood schools, where he was junior high principal and director of technology.
Jordan said the superintendent search was unique because most school districts in Clark County saw a change in leadership this year.
“With the exception of Southeastern and Clark-Shawnee, every district superintendent has changed,” Jordan said.
She added that because of the two high schools, the size of Northeastern and other factors, the best superintendent candidate for Northeastern would be different than for other county districts.
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