Valpo Schools’ finance official hired by Tri-Creek
By Amy Lavalley Post-Tribune correspondent July 20, 2012 5:00PM
Updated: July 23, 2012 8:18AM
VALPARAISO — The Valparaiso Community School Corp. is losing yet another top administrator, as Lynn Kwilasz, the corporation’s chief financial officer, heads to the Tri-Creek Schools in Lowell.
She is the fourth administrator to leave the Valparaiso schools in recent months, following the superintendent, assistant superintendent and director of elementary education.
Valparaiso School Board president Mark Maassel said the board confirmed that Kwilasz was leaving Friday morning.
“This does not mean that there are no financial staff in the building,” he said, lauding Kwilasz and adding other staff members will handle bills and paychecks. “This is not some doomsday scenario.”
The Tri-Creek School Board hired Kwilasz Thursday night during a special meeting, board president Douglas Ward said. She will split her time between the two school districts until Aug. 23. The board will sign her contract on Aug. 9.
Kwilasz is replacing business and personnel manager Tom Dykiel, who, after two years at Tri-Creek, has accepted a job with the Greater Clark Schools in downstate Jeffersonville. Dykiel will be working with Andrew Melin, who recently accepted a job as superintendent at Greater Clark and left the Valparaiso Schools.
“We weren’t planning on losing Tom, that’s for sure,” Ward said, adding Dykiel, like Kwilasz, will split his time between both districts to ensure a smooth transition.
Melin hired Kwilasz last May in a two-year contract. Ward said her contract with Tri-Creek is the same as the one she had in Valparaiso; those details were not available Friday.
Neither Kwilasz nor Jim McCall, acting interim superintendent for the Valparaiso Schools, could be reached for comment.
The superintendent is responsible for hiring the central administration staff, Maassel said, and that responsibility may fall on the corporation’s interim superintendent; the board is expected to hire someone to fill that slot in the coming weeks.
“That is definitely a possibility, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Maassel said.
He added the school corporation has time to find someone to fill the chief financial officer position, who will have to face the district’s financial crisis.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we will be able to bring in a very talented individual,” he said. “I think we have time to make a sound decision.”
