By Ann Craig-Cinnamon
After five years at the helm of Hamilton Southeastern Schools, Superintendent Dr. Brian Smith officially left his post Sept. 1 to become the Executive Director of the Indiana State School Boards Association.
Reflecting on Smith’s legacy, HSE School Board President John DeLucia said Dr. Smith has done a tremendous job in many ways. He points to the Senior Academies as perhaps one of the best things accomplished during his tenure.
“What is so extraordinary about this is that really we needed to add space. I think that most school corporations would have just added on the space they needed and it would look a lot like the space they had. But what Brian led was a transformational, educational opportunity with the college career academy partnering with IU, Purdue, Ball State and others getting involved, providing an incredible opportunity for the students, really out of a need to just add space,” said DeLucia.
Both Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern High School are building the Senior Academies which give seniors an opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school.
DeLucia said Dr. Smith will be missed.
“He goes far beyond the school corporation. He was certainly the superintendent of schools but he also quickly became a true pillar of the community and a true leader of the community, being on the Chamber board and being involved in Rotary. Anything significant going on in Fishers and he’s been there for the past five years or so and that’s hard to do coming from outside,” he said.
Dr. William Carnes has officially taken over as interim superintendent while a succession planning committee continues to look for a permanent replacement. DeLucia said that process is going well but no candidates have been identified yet.
