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A Tough Decision That Ultimately Wasn't

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This is my family. This is my home.

That became even more evident to me back in December when I contemplated a very tempting job opportunity in Stark County, where I grew up and started my career.

As many are aware, I had applied for the superintendent position in Stark County back in 2006. But when Mike Miller, my good friend and former superintendent here in Fairfield County who got the job in Stark County in 2006, announced his retirement last summer, I had no desire to apply again.

It’s funny, because I’ve said for years that the Stark County job was the only other one that I’d be interested in. But when it became open, I simply wasn’t interested.

But they called. And I felt compelled to listen.

Restoring the confidence in Stark County’s services to people with developmental disabilities poses a tremendous challenge.

And I love a challenge.

But when I faced the difficult decision to “go back home” or stay put here, I ultimately decided to stay.

Why?

The excitement I feel when I think about and talk about the things we’ve accomplished together here, as well as the possibilities of what we can accomplish in the future, are just too great to walk away from.

We are blessed to have an excellent staff that places the service and support they provide to the individuals entrusted in their care first and foremost.

And I am not exaggerating when I say that our leadership team is the best in the state.

I would be hard-pressed to duplicate either if I were to leave and go to Stark County.

What the entire decision-making process taught me was that Stark County was no longer “home.” It had become the place that I was “from.”

When word leaked to the media that I was to appear for a final interview, I wanted our staff to hear that word from me rather than in the paper or in a memo. So before I went to meet with the Stark County board I met with our staff.

When I looked into their faces that morning, I realized that I was looking into faces that had become my family.

This is my family. This is my home.