Dr. Jeff Hauswald accepted an offer of employment to become Boone County Public Schools’ new superintendent last week. Hauswald will take the reins from current superintendent Matt Turner and will begin his duties on July 1.
Hauswald comes from Bloomington, Indiana, and formerly served as the superintendent of Monroe County Schools in Bloomington.
“I try to be a servant leader; positional authority doesn’t get you anywhere,” said Hauswald in a press release. “The reality is you get power by giving it away. Our teachers and administrators are the experts in their fields of work. They don’t work for me, I believe in working with my staff and for the students, that’s how together accomplish the goal of accelerated learning opportunities for our students.”
In his previous position, Hauswald helped raise about $250 million for universal early childhood education in the district, and his tenure also saw increases in starting teacher pay from roughly $40,000 to $60,000.
There were some decisions in his previous position, however, that proved unpopular among some of the community. In 2023, Hauswald and the Monroe County district planned on switching term schedules at one of the schools in the district, a move that led to backlash among families. The Monroe County Board of Education later voted to delay voting on the change until the 2025-2026 academic year. He also faced criticism after proposing the consolidation of two of the district’s elementary schools, a move Hauswald told LINK nky was later affirmed by the elected board of education.
His time with the district, which officially ends on June 30, concluded with a $228,926 contract buy-out, as reported by Indianapolis ABC news affiliate WRTV. Contract buy-outs like this are common in Indiana, and Hauswald told LINK nky that his separation agreement with Monroe County Schools was mutual, amicable and unrelated to his less popular moves as superintendent.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to work with Dr. Hauswald,” Boone County Board of Education President Jesse Parks told LINK nky.
Parks described the selection process the district and board used to identify candidates for the position, which deviated from previous iterations of superintendent hiring. In addition to the legally required selection committee comprised of local residents and district staff members, the board contracted a recruiting firm called McPherson & Jacobson to perform their own search independently from the selection committee.
The selection committee and the firm returned with about five finalists, many of whom were on both the committee’s and the firm’s lists. Parks said that Hauswald’s managerial experience set him apart from other candidates.
“I needed an experienced manager,” Parks said, adding that he admired Hauwald’s skills as a communicator. Parks said that Hauswald had already made in roads with the community and with local stakeholders.
When asked about some of the issues that arose during Hauswald’s tenure in Indiana, Parks said that the legal structures and rights of local education boards in the state of Kentucky didn’t map neatly onto those from Indiana. As result, he did not expect similar issues to arise in Boone County, but if they did, the board would respond accordingly to the will of the local community.
LINK nky has reached out to Monroe County Schools for comment, but they had not responded by the time this brief appeared.