A verbal agreement made Monday night between the Union County Board of Education and the district's Assistant Superintendent and Director of 
Instruction, Patricia Sheffer, paves the way for a formal vote January 23, to elect Sheffer the new superintendent of Union County Public Schools. Monday night's board meeting will kick off with a 5:00 p.m. reception for Sheffer with the board's first business on the agenda to formally vote on her hiring. She is expected to assume her duties as superintendent immediately following the vote, taking over from Denny Vincent who has served as acting superintendent since July 1, 2011. Sheffer was selected from a pool of nine applicants, and was selected by the screening committee as one of five whose name was submitted to the board of education for consideration.
Sheffer has been a mainstay in the Union County Public Schools, beginning as a volunteer in the early 1980's before becoming an instructional assistant at Uniontown Elementary School in 1989 while earning an Associate degree from Henderson Community College that same year. After earning her bachelor's degree in early childhood education in 1993 from Western Kentucky University, Sheffer began teaching kindergarten and first grade at Uniontown Elementary School, assuming many responsibilities to enhance the learning of students.
Instruction, Patricia Sheffer, paves the way for a formal vote January 23, to elect Sheffer the new superintendent of Union County Public Schools. Monday night's board meeting will kick off with a 5:00 p.m. reception for Sheffer with the board's first business on the agenda to formally vote on her hiring. She is expected to assume her duties as superintendent immediately following the vote, taking over from Denny Vincent who has served as acting superintendent since July 1, 2011. Sheffer was selected from a pool of nine applicants, and was selected by the screening committee as one of five whose name was submitted to the board of education for consideration. Sheffer has been a mainstay in the Union County Public Schools, beginning as a volunteer in the early 1980's before becoming an instructional assistant at Uniontown Elementary School in 1989 while earning an Associate degree from Henderson Community College that same year. After earning her bachelor's degree in early childhood education in 1993 from Western Kentucky University, Sheffer began teaching kindergarten and first grade at Uniontown Elementary School, assuming many responsibilities to enhance the learning of students.
In 2003, Sheffer was named principal of the Union County district's RIDE center where she implemented formal and informal strategies to promote an improved perception of that school.
In 2005, Sheffer moved to the district's central office where she worked as Instructional Supervisor/Curriculum Specialist collaborating with P through 12 administration. In 2008, Sheffer was named Director of Instruction for the district and was named Administrator of the Year. As director of instruction, Sheffer often served as the superintendent's designee, supervised student achievement and district formative assessment. She also worked to enhance the gifted/talented program and often visited civic groups to provide assessment data and educational growth information to the public.
Since 2011, Sheffer has served as Assistant Superintendent/Director of Instruction, a position that has allowed her to ensure academic rigor in the Union County Public Schools. She has amassed an extended list of duties which have benefited the children of Union County and have helped push the district from one of the state's lowest performing to one of its higher performing districts. She was recently the recipient of Kentucky Award for Performance Excellence Level 1 Baldridge Award.
The new superintendent has an extensive list of leadership trainings in which she has participated and which she has used to implement new learning strategies locally. Those trainings have also provided Sheffer with the knowledge and background to urge both teachers and students to continually seek out academic growth.
In a letter Sheffer submitted to the board in mid-October for consideration of the superintendent position, Sheffer noted, "As a staunch advocate for student achievement, I am committed to providing both students and staff with the resources needed to develop dynamic, interesting, rigorous, and safe learning environments in which they can reach their full potential." Sheffer is also an advocate of positive learning climates and has pledged to "make Union County Public Schools the best for all students, local industries, school employees, and community partners."
In a written question/answer segment of the superintendent selection process, Sheffer noted that effective public relations offer the community the accountability it demands and provides more opportunities for community input. She has laid out a public relations plan for the board with programs and activities she would like to implement. In her written responses to questions about the superintendent's role in a school district, Sheffer has defined her role with the board of education, her role in instruction, and ways she would help develop and maintain good staff morale.
Included in a "Plan of Action" Sheffer submitted with her application for the superintendent's position, she says she plans to lay the groundwork to build trusting, productive and collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders in the district; will work diligently to build on the district's past successes as well as reexamine it to improve areas where evidence indicates improvement is needed.
Sheffer's plan calls for her to align expectations to enhance early success by clearing articulating expectations, setting high expectations and ensuring students not only graduate from Union County High School but also complete college or workforce certification.
Sheffer's strategic plan also calls for assessing and transforming organizational culture, developing a strategic agenda, leading the board, providing effective communication and avoiding common snags which sometimes hinder the educational process.
The new superintendent earned a Master's Degree from Indiana State University in 1995; and a Rank 1 in curriculum and instruction from Indiana Wesleyan in 2000. She continued her administrative certification work at Murray State University earning a post masters PreK-12 principal's certification in 2003; a supervisor of instruction certification K-12 in 2005 and her superintendent's certification in 2007. Sheffer has also served as a presenter at a number of state and national leadership conferences.
The public is invited to attend the reception which will be held Monday evening at 5:00 at Union County Middle School prior to the board meeting