Licking Heights selects Kevin Miller as new superintendent

Licking Heights has selected its new superintendent.

Kevin Miller, currently director of government relations for the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA), was approved June 25 as the replacement for Philip Wagner, who has been tapped as the new superintendent for the Johnstown-Monroe School District.

Miller has served in his current role since 2019. Prior to that, he was the superintendent for nine years at Ottawa Hills Schools, located outside of Toledo. He also served as superintendent of Hicksville Exempted Village Schools for seven years.

While he loved his job with BASA, Miller said his "heart is in the school house, not the statehouse."

As the fourth fastest-growing district in the state, Licking Heights has exciting changes in store as well as challenges, Miller said.

"I could just tell there's a lot of energy in the district. It's really clear that the people of Licking Heights love their district and are proud of their district," he said. "I just really wanted to be part of that."

Miller's three-year contract includes an annual salary of $170,000, with a 2%  raise each year, according to District Treasurer Todd Griffith. Miller will officially start with the district on Aug. 1.

Board President Paul Johnson said in a release from the district that the board was excited to welcome Miller.

"Dr. Miller has a long history of driving academic excellence and a proven track record of advocating for school districts’ funding needs at the statehouse," he said. "As superintendent for Ottawa Hills, he led a district consistently ranked as the top in Ohio."

During his time with Ottawa Hills, Johnson said the district's high school was ranked in the top 2% nationally by Forbes, Newsweek, and U.S. News World Report.

This will be Miller's first time leading a large district. He said his two previous districts had about 1,000 enrolled students. Licking Heights had more than 4,900 students in April, and the enrollment will keep increasing.

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Miller said some people might see that as a disadvantage, but with a smaller district he has been involved with every facet of the district, including the school lunch program, transportation services, budgeting and everything else.

"I've kind of walked in all of their shoes through 16 years and sat in that seat and I think that gives me great insight and understanding of what they do every day and the challenges that they face," he said.

With the increased student enrollment comes increased diversity. Licking Heights' student population speaks more than 42 languages. About 20% of Ottawa Hills' student body comes from minority communities, Miller said, and his experiences with those students laid the groundwork for him to work in a district like Licking Heights.

"We really learned at Ottawa Hills how to really recognize that each student was bringing a different background and different value set to the table, and the importance of recognizing them for who they are, and what's important to them culturally, and celebrating that," he said.

While the Intel Corporation's $20 billion computer chip manufacturing facility is not within the Licking Heights district, it's expected the district will be impacted by the growth that follows the facility to central Ohio. Miller said during his 16-year career as a superintendent, he is used to dealing with the ever-changing needs of school districts.

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The key, Miller said, will be communicating with the board of education, county and Pataskala officials, district residents, staff members and more to make the change as seamless as possible.

"No doubt it's a big challenge for Licking Heights. They've already been going through that. They're going to continue going through that and just making sure (there are) constant conversations, creating the vision as a team, working toward it as a team, being flexible and making adjustments as necessary," he said. "Those are all an important part of the process and that's what we'll be doing at Licking Heights.”

mdevito@gannett.com

740-607-2175

Twitter: @MariaDeVito13

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Licking Heights selects Kevin Miller as new superintendent