Alden-Conger and Glenville-Emmons will share more than athletic teams this year as the schools combined their superintendent role effective Monday.

Former Glenville-Emmons Superintendent Jerry Reshetar has his last day with the district Thursday. Alden-Conger Superintendent Brian Shanks will now act as superintendent for both school districts.

“The timing was right on this for Glenville-Emmons to share a superintendent,” Reshetar said. Reshetar has worked for 49 years in education, working as a teacher, principal and superintendent. He was superintendent of Glenville-Emmons Schools for nine years.

Reshetar was already a part-time superintendent, and the school shares a good portion of its athletic teams with Alden-Conger Public School District, Reshetar said. The districts recently also began sharing athletic directors. These factors make sharing a superintendent with Alden-Conger a good fit, Reshetar said.

The sharing agreement is a 60%-40% split, with an intended three days a week devoted to Alden-Conger and two to Glenville-Emmons, Shanks said.

“The first year is certainly going to be a learning year for me with the Glenville school district,” Shanks said, as he gets to know the staff and its needs as well as the school board and its intended direction for the district.

Shanks was full time at Alden-Conger, but also performed some responsibilities traditionally belonging to the principal. The principal, Paul Ragaatz, was also filling a dual role as the school’s athletic director. Now that the district has a shared athletic director, Ragaatz can assume more of the duties previously picked up by Shanks, the superintendent said.

Both superintendents said they consider a combined superintendent to be a step in the right direction for the two districts. It will streamline the process of communication between two schools already working together closely, Shanks said.

“I think it’s a plus for both school districts,” Reshetar said.

However, combining the administrative positions does not — “underlined, bold face, capitalized,” Shanks said — mean the districts are merging.

“This is not the first step in combining school districts academically,” Shanks said.

Reshetar said he sees the combination as a step toward keeping small schools in small communities viable by sustaining the district in an affordable way.

“We pay attention to every child every day, and I think that makes a difference,” Reshetar said.

 

‘A tough thing to leave’

Still, Reshetar said, stepping away from Glenville-Emmons Schools made for a hard goodbye.

“That’s a tough thing to leave,” Reshetar said, citing a quality staff and an enjoyable nine years. “… Tough for me, personally, but it’s the right thing to do right now for the district. For the long-term, it’s the right thing.”

Reshetar also worked part-time as an interim superintendent at LeRoy-Ostrander Public Schools since January, which he will continue for another year as the district finds a suitable replacement. He anticipates this year will be his last as a superintendent.

During his time with Glenville-Emmons Schools, Reshetar said the district has replaced only two teachers in nine years for reasons other than retirement.

“We sustained our staff over those nine years because, I think, of the culture of the community and the culture of the school is all very positive,” Reshetar said. “So, really, being a part of that was certainly a highlight for me.”

More recently, Glenville-Emmons and Alden-Conger’s athletic team combinations brought “tremendous success” to some programs, which Reshetar said was a highlight for him as well as potentially eye-opening for parents.

Glenville-Emmons has a good staff and good families, he said, and he hopes the community will continue to have a quality school.

“I anticipate that Brian will keep the school operating efficiently,” Reshetar said.