By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Just days after coming home to Ellis on Jan. 17 from six months of treatment for leukemia in Kansas City, high school/jr. high principal Corey Burton interviewed for the position of Ellis USD 388 superintendent.
Burton was one of three finalists for the position, and the Ellis school board announced his selection Feb. 13.
While the other candidates toured the two schools, met with teachers, staff, students and the public, and interviewed in person with school board members, Burton made his interview statement via an online video which was made public.
Burton has been in a year-long battle with cancer. More than 1,500 #Burton Strong T-shirts were sold in a local fundraiser for his family’s expenses.
“We had all kinds of community support,” Burton said. “It was overwhelming, honestly.”
Burton has served the past 13 years as EHS principal and was a teacher for nine years before that. The moves have always been part of his career plan.
He will officially take the superintendent’s seat July 1 and is working now with the current superintendent, Bob Young, to prepare for the job change. Young is retiring at the end of the 2018-19 school year.
“We meet nearly every day and go over something that I’ll need to be dealing with over the next couple months. That’s probably the biggest thing, is familiarizing myself with everything that I’m gonna need to get done next year.
“It will be a learning process,” Burton acknowledged. “Just like your first year of teaching, just like your first year as an administrator, this first year as superintendent is going to be a learning process.”
Finances are a constant challenge for most Kansas school districts, although Ellis has been “pretty lucky with consistent student enrollment,” according to Burton. “The state was good to us last year and we look to be in the positive again this coming year.”
Staffing is what Burton believes will be one of the bigger challenges, not just for Ellis but all of western Kansas.
“Finding quality teachers, keeping quality teachers in the classroom, even finding the appropriate staff members,” all concern Burton.
“We’ve got some staff members that could retire in the next couple of years that aren’t just teachers. We’re going to have to fill those positions and some of them are going to be challenging to fill,” he said. “I think we’re going to have to be real proactive in trying to attract good people to those positions, both salary-wise and a pleasant, enjoyable work environment that people want to be in.”
Burton knows community support and that of parents is strong in Ellis.
“They understand the importance of education and we really get support from them … Our normal fall parent/teacher conference at the high school averages about 85 percent,” Burton said. “Most high schools would do back flips if they could get that kind of attendance in even just an open house.
“Our folks want to be involved. They want a good strong school system. They want their kids to be successful. It’s nice.”
You can watch more of Burton’s interview with Gary Shorman on the Eagle Community TV Forum the week of Feb. 25 on Eagle channels 14 and 614 at 6:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.