Steska to leave Cape schools when contract expires in June

After two years in which he led successful campaigns for a bond issue and a hefty tax levy and is credited with turning around poor morale among the faculty and staff, Dr. Dan Steska told his staff Friday he will leave the district when his contract expires next June.

Steska will make the formal announcement at Monday night's regular meeting of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education.

His plans to leave at the end of the current school year were generally known by members of the board. At the end of the school year, Steska will have 30 years invested in the state retirement program.

Now 51, Steska said he may seek an education job in another state or look for an administrative position in higher education. Becoming a college professor is also a possibility.

"My future is real unknown," he said. "It's kind of like being a kid getting out of high school and wondering what you're going to do. It's exciting and scary at the same time."

'A big loss for us'

It's mostly scary for the Cape Girardeau schools, who are facing a year in which they must prepare to move into a new high school next fall and to close Schultz School.

"It's going to be a big loss for us," said Dr. Bob Fox, the board president.

Fox and others who worked with Steska said his straightforwardness and sincerity are the traits that enabled him to accomplish goals previous superintendents couldn't.

Numerous attempts to pass bond issues failed during the 1990s, and the turnover rate was near 50 percent two years in a row before Steska arrived.

Raising the tax levy by 58 cents in a close election last spring was Steska's most impressive accomplishment, Fox said. "In this day and age, passing a tax levy of that size specifically for salary increases is just unheard of."

Harry Rediger, who fought side-by-side in the trenches with the superintendent to get the bond issues and tax levy passed, said Steska immediately impressed him as a forthright leader. "He is a great motivator. He could project to the staff, the media, the parents and the children a great sense of trust and truthfulness. He is a straightforward man," Rediger said.

Available to teachers

Brenda Woemmel, a Central Junior High School social studies teacher who is the local president of the Missouri National Education Association chapter, said the faculty appreciates the way the superintendent treats them as professionals and his candor.

"I think he tries to be very open and upfront as he deals with people," she said. "That has meant a lot to the personnel in the district, and I would think that would mean a great deal to the community."

Mary Stamp, a fifth-grade teacher at Alma Schrader School, said Steska has made himself available to teachers. Most of all, he has been more reliable than past superintendents, said Stamp, who has taught in the district 23 years.

"When he came to Cape Girardeau he made some promises he'd work on things. Most of those things he has done," Stamp said.

The biggest controversy in Steska's tenure to this point occurred earlier this year when the board decided not to renew the contract of then-Central High School principal Randie Fidler. Fidler's supporters objected and called on the board to rescind their decision. They refused.

Steska said he recommended Fidler be rehired but at the same time could not fully endorse the principal's performance. Contrary to many rumors that circulated at the time, Steska said the board based the decision on the job Fidler did over a period of years, not on any particular incident.

No coaching background

Until recently, many public schools chose administrators with coaching backgrounds. That has been one of the differences in Steska. He taught English for eight years at Perryville High School after graduating from Southeast, then became assistant principal for four years and principal for 12.

He became superintendent of the Cape Girardeau schools in 1999 after a year as assistant superintendent and two years as superintendent at Arcadia Valley R-2 Schools.

In a letter he will submit to the board, Steska says many people asked why he would want the job in Cape Girar-deau, which at the time was in financial trouble and had a high turnover rate among the faculty and staff.

"My question is, why anyone would not want to be employed with a district of this quality?" Steska wrote.

He liked the idea of coming into a school district that had some problems.

"It's a matter of generating enthusiasm and teamwork," Steska said. "My role is to motivate people and to clarify the vision for what needs to be accomplished."

Full of surprises

A school administrator's day is full of surprises, he says, not all of them pleasant. Dealing with the students' reaction to the death of a classmate is one of the most difficult situations, he said.

Other days he's performing the Heimlich maneuver on a girl choking on candy or helping fish a senior ring out of a drain.

At 11 one night while principal in Perryville, he received a phone call reporting a hog was loose on the high school roof. The custodian eventually corralled the animal, but Steska didn't nab the senior prankster until after graduation.

He is familiar with the common belief that nearby neighbor and sports rival Jackson, Mo., has better schools than Cape Girardeau has. "I have been making an effort to clarify, particularly with Realtors, the truth of the quality of education students are getting Cape public schools," he said.

"Much of that perception is racially motivated," he added.

Looking back 10 years from now, Steska says the community will see this time as a pivotal point in changing the perception of Cape schools.

The improved morale among the staff is having a ripple effect in the community, he says.

"Pride in the school district has increased. We have 600 employees. That kind of attitude affects the community."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182