Dayton Mayor Ben Baker awarded retiring school superintendent Jay Brewer with a plaque displaying a key to the city at the start of the May city council meeting.
“We hire a lot of people, and it’s always fun to see them come onto our team. Sometimes they leave us, they retire,” Baker said. “And that’s great because we want to see them through their careers.”
In the 12 years Brewer has been superintendent for Dayton Independent Schools, Baker said, they’ve become friends and also coworkers.
“Even though we don’t work for the same company, we work for the same cause,” he said.
Brewer has always seen to it that Dayton students had whatever they needed to prepare them for college and career, Baker said. He brought in programs that allowed students to attend NKU early, earning college credits while in high school. If a student wanted vocational training or other opportunities, such as the Ignite training program, the superintendent saw to that as well.
“He’s grown our overall ranking,” Baker said. “We went from 171st out of 173, just two above the worst, to above 70. That’s impressive.”
Baker invited Brewer up to the podium where he presented the plaque.
“I’m honored to present to you the key to the city today,” Brewer said. “Together we grew. I really appreciate you as a friend and also as an ambassador for the city.”
Brewer said he wanted to thank the school board and give credit.
When Brewer came on board in 2012, the district was struggling and under state scrutiny. An “educational recovery team” was in place.
“It seems like just yesterday I stumbled into town, and we said let’s figure this thing out,” Brewer said. “And in behind-the-scenes phone calls sometimes we said, ‘What have we gotten ourselves into?’ The message I want to leave everyone with is we can do this, working together, the city and the schools. That’s what we do in the river cities.”
Brewer said he was excited for Project One, a project that began under his watch. Now underway, it will unite the two school buildings into one campus with a sports complex and other amenities.
“It’s going to blow everyone’s mind and really be a great thing for our kids,” he added.
Longtime Dayton educator Rick Wolf, currently director of curriculum and instruction in the district, will take over as superintendent on July 1.