Tonica, Lostant schools try joint administration

Robert Ketcham had spent 11 years as a school principal and wanted to be superintendent of a rural district. His big chance came this summer but with an unexpected twist.

He was hired to run not one, but two neighboring school districts, Tonica and Lostant, in southwestern La Salle County.

The outgoing Tonica and Lostant superintendents approached retirement knowing there was no surplus of replacements. Illinois has muddled through a teacher shortage that has in turn led to fewer principals and superintendents, too.

There are challenges, for sure, and there are advantages, just like anything.”

—  Robert Ketcham, Tonica-Lostant superintendent

It begged a question: Could running Tonica and Lostant be a one-person job? The two boards talked it over and agreed to try it.

Ketcham took the job knowing it meant double duty. He has two staffs to manage, two budgets to craft and two board meetings to attend each month.

“I was not intimidated – I don’t think that’s the right word – but there are challenges, for sure,” Ketcham said, “and there are advantages, just like anything,”

This is not a first for La Salle County schools – Rutland and Wallace in rural Ottawa have long shared a superintendent – but hiring a dual administrator is rare enough both school boards had to ponder the pros and cons.

Lostant and Tonica had already merged some of their athletics and had a joint athletic director, so there was some precedent for merging the front offices. Nevertheless, Tonica Board President Ritch Fundell remembered having questions – lots of question – about how this would work.

“We had to give it a lot of thought, but we were definitely interested in learning more about it,” Fundell said. “So far, it seems to be going pretty well.”

Tonica’s former superintendent, Chuck Schneider, and his counterpart at Lostant, Sandra Malahy, were willing to downshift into advisory roles as Ketcham learned the ropes.

Schneider, for example, accepted the step-back title of assistant superintendent, effective July 1, and will stay in that mentoring post until New Year’s Eve. Ketcham, he said, is “really catching on.”

“And I felt comfortable taking a different title to be supportive and to smooth that transition as I finish my career in education,” Schneider said.

The transition has worked for Tonica insofar as the school has an experienced principal, Chris Waca, who provides on-site supervision while Ketcham bounces between schools.

“There will always be kinks to work out,” Schneider allowed, “but I think it’s been successful.”

It helped Ketcham had experience in La Salle County – he’d been principal at Northlawn Junior High School in Streator – and had been looking for an administrative post in farm country, where he’s most comfortable.

Ketcham is also a former coach – he’d been a PE, health and driver ed instructor before switching to administration – and he’s parlayed those skills into mentoring young teachers.

“I set out to coach kids,” Ketcham said, “and ended up coaching teachers.”

So far, school officials from other districts haven’t phoned wondering how to implement the dual superintendent model. Nevertheless, Ketcham said there may be some watching from afar to see how it works for Tonica and Lostant.

“I definitely think that as schools navigate through the teacher shortage,” he said, “as well as the administrator shortage that they might be looking for models like this that might help them financially as well as bring other benefits.”