DANVILLE – Danville’s interim elementary principal is not new to education administration, nor to interim roles.
John Thomas, the interim elementary principal for the remainder of the 2021-22 school year, began his education career in 1971, working full-time teaching and in administration. More recently, since his official retirement in 2003, Thomas has stepped into four interim administrator roles — the job with Danville Local Schools being his fourth.
Thomas will fill the vacancy of former elementary principal Tara Bond, whose resignation took effect Nov. 29. Superintendent Jason Snively has been serving as interim principal since, and Thomas will start Jan. 3.
While Thomas technically retired 18 years ago with more than 30 years of work in the field, he has extended his education career to half a century and counting.
During the 2020-21 school year, he served as interim superintendent of West Holmes Local Schools following the death of the district’s superintendent, and during the 2019-2020 school year, Thomas served as acting superintendent of Madison Local Schools in Mansfield. Thomas also worked as an interim superintendent in Mansfield in 2010.
Having entered districts during times of grieving and amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Thomas has learned to approach interim administration differently than his previous full-time jobs.
“The hardest part about being in any interim position is that it is not the interim’s position to start new direction or to try to change things,” Thomas said. “You’re there to hold the place. You’re a placeholder until the new person is selected. So in every position I’ve been, even where I was a superintendent, I did not try to set new direction. I didn’t try to make changes in procedures and policies.
“The staff that’s there at Danville know their jobs. They all know what they’re doing. They don’t need me to go in and tell them how to do their job. They’re all very capable people. What they’re going to need to do is help me understand how the school functions so that I can fit myself into their functions — as opposed to them fitting themselves to me for five months and then getting a new principal right away again.”
Also since his retirement, Thomas has worked with more than 200 school districts as an educational consultant.
The son of a teacher and florist, Thomas grew up in Alliance, but now lives in nearby Apple Valley in Knox County. He received his bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University and master’s from Akron University.
Thomas’ career began as a high school English teacher in Maryland at Robert E. Peary High School. Thomas and his wife moved back to Ohio after the birth of their first child, and Thomas eventually took on a new type of education role — scoring tests and coding textbooks through the federally funded Changing Education Through the Arts program.
Thomas later worked as a curriculum supervisor, led the instructional computer center for northeast Ohio (before the creation of the Educational Service Center) and worked as elementary principal in the Minerva Local Schools district.
Thomas also served as superintendent for three school districts in Ohio, including Crestview Local Schools in Columbiana County, Alliance City Schools (his hometown) and Delaware City Schools, from which he retired.
While Thomas is technically retired, his service in the field of education continues. Thomas is a strong believer in the idea, “service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth,” a quote from Muhammad Ali.
He came to view his work this way from the model set by his grandparents — a salesman and a practicing physician who both worked into their mid-to-late 80s.
“I’m only 73 years old, so I’m just a pup compared to my grandparents,” Thomas said. “And there’s nothing really special or extraordinary about continuing to work in your 70s or into your 80s, if that’s what you want to do. And this is something that I enjoy. I mean, I get enjoyment out of meeting people and working with people every day.”
Thomas met with school staff before the winter break, and Danville’s school board voted to employ Thomas as interim principal on Dec. 20. Thomas will begin at Danville after winter break, on Jan. 3, and work through May 25 for $350 per day for the days school is in session, according to his contract.
“I’m going to enjoy doing this for 95 days and then we’re going to find a permanent person to do this job and I’ll go away,” Thomas said. “But, not before having fun.”
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