“His commitment was just from the heart, we could tell that,” Nerny said.
Schooler said he was “very appreciative” the board selected him from the pool of applicants. He hopes to help the district improve test scores and community outreach.
“Hopefully, we can all work together and move the community forward as it relates to the education of our children,” he said.
Schooler — a 1963 graduate of Dunbar High School and a decorated Vietnam Veteran who received the Bronze Star — will be sworn in at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the school board’s meeting room at 115 S. Ludlow St.
By law, the board was required to appoint someone to fill Mims’ seat no later than Jan. 30. Mims was elected Nov. 2 to represent the 3rd District on the state school board, which creates policy and makes recommendations for K-12 education in Ohio.
Schooler said he sought the appointment “based on 30 years of practical experience in the field of public education, having worked as an educational intern, public school teacher and administrator at the elementary, junior high and high school level.”
He taught in the Dayton Public district from 1972 until 1978 before becoming a principal in the Jefferson Twp. district from 1978 until 1997, when he retired.
Schooler wrote in his application to the board that the appointment would allow him to work closely with other board members seeking to fulfill the “Contract with the Community,” which was tied to passage of a 4.9-mill operating levy voters approved in November, 2008. The district developed the contract as a condition of future community support, requiring it show substantial progress before returning to the voters.
The term expires at the end of this year and Schooler told the school board he plans to seek the seat in the November election.
Other candidates for the appointment were Malcolm Keith Sr., president of the Thurgood Parent Association; Len Roberts, former chief of staff for the provost’s office at the University of Dayton; Kristen Bodiker, a Kettering City Schools teacher; Kevin Scroggins, disease intervention specialist for Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County; Hazel Roundtree, assistant director of Affirmative Action Programs at Wright State University; Willie Walker, a 2010 Dayton Public Schools graduate; and Teresa Whitley, a user-centered designer for Elsevier Science.
Schooler graduated from Central State University in 1972, the Ohio State University in 1976 and Grace College in Columbia, S.C., in 2003.
He is a current member of the Montgomery County Family and Children First Committee and his community service experience also has included serving as a certified city of Dayton mediator, chairman emeritus within the Priority Board system and former executive board member of CityWide Development Corp.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2094 or mkissell@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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