Windham – Windham students will not only see a new face in the principal’s office, they will see a new one at the superintendent’s desk as well. The Windham Board of Education (BOE) hired Aireane Curtis to fill the superintendent position.
Curtis began at the helm of the school on July 1, 2019 and was given a three-year and one-month contract. She is very excited to join the team at Windham and can’t wait to meet the student body. She has met a few of the students, who are working at the school over the summer. The kids will all start coming in the end of August, but those in fall sports began coming to the school the first of August.
Mrs. Curtis comes with plenty of experience under her belt. The latest district she worked in was Streetsboro City Schools. While there she was the assistant superintendent. She also was a curriculum director prior to being named assistant superintendent as well. Curtis has taught at Streetsboro Schools, Cleveland Municipal Schools, and Southwestern City schools. She also worked as a curriculum director for both Portage and Cuyahoga Educational Service Centers (ESC). Mrs. Curtis received her undergraduate degree from Otterbein College (now University) and her master’s in Education at Kent State University. She later earned her superintendent’s license from Salem University and her gifted endorsement from the University of Cincinnati.
When she first arrived on the scene, she went out and drove the neighborhoods, so she could have a better understanding of the community. I asked her what drew her to Windham, she replied, “I worked with Windham when I was working for the Portage County ESC, so I was familiar with the region.” When the opening was made known, her boss at Streetsboro encouraged her to apply for the position. She said, “I knew I wanted to be a school superintendent and Windham was a good fit.”
Over the summer, Curtis has been busy filling out funding applications, surveys, looking at state and federal guidelines on how they apply to Windham School District, learning the dynamics of the district and getting to know her staff. Many of the applications and surveys she filled out are not new to her as she filled these forms out for her previous employer. She also said, “So far, so good. Everyone has been so kind and helpful as I get adjusted to my new role.”
Here is what she plans to bring to the district. With a curriculum background, she hopes to be able to add to the current program and help keep the test scores on the incline. She also plans to showcase the positives. Windham already uses the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports program (PBIS) System and she plans to enhance it where possible. She is excited about the strong STEM program Windham has and hopes that, by continuing to improve the established programs, they will attract more open-enrolled students and lose fewer students to other districts. All of these ideas and plans will not be instituted immediately; she plans to do nothing new for a while. Once she is familiar with the district climate and students, she and the rest of the administration will evaluate what they have that’s great and what needs work and then make changes accordingly.
The community can expect Curtis to not only know a student’s name, but to really understand the student and where they are academically, emotionally and such. She just doesn’t want a student to be a nameless face in the hall. She wants to really know what the students’ needs are and how the district can best meet those needs, so the student can be successful.
She is excited for the students to start so she can start learning who they are and what they are about. Besides being the new superintendent, Curtis is a mom and wife, with three very active children. Her children are involved in sports, dance, and music lessons. Their activities keep her and her husband Clay’s evenings very full, yet enjoyable. Curtis resides in Aurora with her husband and three children.
