MANSFIELD — Jeremy Secrist hopes to make a difference for the students who are struggling the most in the next phase of his career.
Secrist was hired Monday morning by the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center as the director of grants and special projects. The board approved a three-year contract.
Secrist will manage the MOESC’s partnerships with three dropout prevention programs and two schools located inside residential treatment programs.
“The ability to work with, in many ways, the kids who are most in-need — that speaks to me right now, at this point in my career, and I just really feel honored to have that opportunity,” said Secrist, who just completed his sixth year as superintendent at Lexington Local Schools.
Secrist said he welcomes the new challenge, as well as the opportunity to spend more time with his family.
“Over the last 12 months, I’ve started thinking about what’s the next step in my career. What draws me here is just the opportunity to serve at just a slightly larger level, to have an impact in some other areas where I can’t currently have an impact,” he said.
“For my family, they’re pretty excited about the idea that maybe there’s a Friday night that dad’s actually around.”
Secrist will oversee partnerships with local programs like Abraxas, GOAL Digital Academy
MOESC provides specialized academic and support services to 13 school districts and more than 20,0000 students in Crawford, Morrow and Richland Counties.
But Secrist’s role will focus largely on the schooling MOESC provides inside Abraxas and F.I.R.S.T. (also known as Foundations for Living).
Both institutions are located in Richland County and serve youth dealing with addiction, delinquency and/or mental-health challenges. Students are often referred to the programs by the court systems or children’s service agencies in their home county.
MOESC Supt. Kevin Kimmel said these students may make poor choices due to challenges and trauma they’ve faced outside the classroom.
“This gives Jeremy the opportunity to dive into those two schools to find out what we can do to best support those teachers and provide an excellent opportunity for those students that so desperately need it,” he said.
Secrist will also oversee the MOESC’s work with of GOAL Digital Academy in Mansfield, Findlay Digital Academy and The Tomorrow Center in Morrow County.
MOESC sponsors all three community schools, meaning it is held responsible by the state education department for those schools’ performance and compliance with Ohio’s educational standards.
“(Secrist) will go in and do attendance audits. He’ll do curriculum audits. He’ll make sure that they’re following policy procedure, keeping up to date on updated legislative changes when it comes to policy and procedures for those community schools,” Kimmel said.
“That’s a heavy administrative burden, but I trust that Jeremy’s expertise that he’s able to handle those expectations.”
Secrist is familiar with the MOESC. Since taking over as Lexington’s superintendent, the district has shifted more of its service contracts to the MOESC from other third-party vendors, Kimmel said.
Secrist also sat in on hiring committees for high-level MOESC positions and was a representative on its business advisory council, a collaborative group of business, education and community leaders focused on workforce development for students across Richland, Morrow, and Crawford counties.
‘His type of experience is hard to come by’
Kimmel said Secrist’s appointment is part of Mid-Ohio ESC’s ongoing organizational efforts to strengthen leadership capacity and enhance services for schools and students throughout the region.
“His type of experience and knowledge and expertise is hard to come by,” Kimmel said Monday.
Secrist is a graduate of Clear Fork High School and Ohio State Mansfield. His teaching career started at Fredericktown and later took him to Ontario. He’s worked as a public school administrator for nearly two decades, starting his career as assistant principal and athletic director at Madison Comprehensive High School.
He spent the last 16 years at Lexington Local Schools, with stints as junior high school principal and high school principal. He spent three years as assistant superintendent under Mike Ziegelhoffer, then succeeded him as superintendent in 2020.
Kimmel said Secrist’s hire will allow some other staff members to focus on areas of growing need at the ESC.
Dr. Mark Burke, who worked with Abraxas and F.I.R.S.T. as executive director of achievement and leadership, will be able to put more time and effort into programming for gifted students.
David Jones, who worked as director of community schools, will shift his focus to technology and cybersecurity.
A primary purpose of educational service centers is to help save districts money and operate as efficiently as possible — something Secrist said is crucial as schools face financial challenges.
“School service centers like this, they’re invaluable, because you can’t meet the increasing needs of changing student bodies with less and less, without help,” he said. “All of the schools in the area are much better when you have a strong ESC.”
