in focus New School, Same Difference

by Cameron Carr

Photos courtesy of Dublin City Schools

New School, Same Difference

New superintendent keeps up the Dublin Difference

In July, Dr. John Marschhausen and his family relocated to their sixth home – a necessary part of the job for Dublin City Schools’ new superintendent.

“I feel it’s incredibly important as the superintendent to be a part of the community,” he says. “That’s critical in being able to lead the district.”

Marschhausen’s new position in Dublin is part of a long and successful career in educational administration and leadership and builds on 16 years of experience as a superintendent.

He took his first superintendent job at East Knox Local Schools in Howard, Ohio, overseeing roughly 1,000 students. He continued to serve a student population of nearly 5,000 for Loveland City Schools outside of Cincinnati before spending the subsequent eight years in the Hilliard City School District. Both Hilliard’s and Dublin’s school districts are home to more than 15,000 students.

Those past experiences have given Marschhausen an understanding of how to manage the dynamics of a large educational organization, preparing him for his new job in Dublin.

“Ultimately, it’s not what I do as superintendent, it’s how I lead our team and how our team allows the teachers to teach,” he says. “The role of any school administrator is to provide classroom teachers with the most opportunities to provide learning experiences for kids. The magic happens in our classrooms.”

Key to that success and to the continued excellence of Dublin City Schools, Marschhausen says, is communication.

“Even though people may not always agree, I want them to know why and how decisions were made,” he says. “I think you build trust with smart people, who may not always agree, if they understand that there is a process and they know how decisions were made.”

While the thought of taking on the rapidly growing district looking to emphasize its focus on diversity, equity and inclusion while also counteracting the adverse effects of a continuing COVID-19 pandemic may cause some to balk, Marschhausen is taking the challenge head on.

“We’ve been all kind of knocked off course because of COVID,” he says. “We need to set measurable academic goals with strategies to reach those goals, with ways to monitor our progress, and then we need to be able to reflect on that at the end of this year to say, ‘Where can we improve?’ because the world in which we live isn’t stopping for COVID. The job market isn’t stopping. College applications are still being accepted.”

He notes the particular challenges of students who may have missed in-person educational experiences related to literacy or basic math fluency. Others, he says, may have spent their first year in a new school learning entirely from home and may need support situating alongside peers already familiar with the environment.

“It’s clear we have some learning losses, and it’s not every kid,” he says. “Our response to those losses has to be personal and it has to be at the student level.”

Growing District

Marschhausen isn’t the only new face on the block. Also in its first year is Eversole

Run Middle School. Eversole is part of a continued growth pattern which led to the construction of two new elementary schools, Abraham Depp and Hopewell, which both opened for the 2020-2021 school year.

“In some ways it’s a challenge, in other ways our community should be incredibly proud,” Marschhausen says. “There are a lot of people who are willing to spend top dollar to build a home and to move into the Dublin City School District and the Dublin community. That is a great source of pride, that it’s a sought after place to raise your family.”

Both elementary schools brought principals from within the district to lead the new buildings. Deer Run Elementary’s Susan Wittig became principal of Hopewell while Depp Principal Troy Ehrsam came from Eli Pinney Elementary.

“One thing that I really look forward to is I look out my office and it’s just land,” Ehrsam says. “The exciting thing is there are going to be buildings there.”

Ehrsam sees Depp as vital not only to the expansion of Dublin City Schools, but also the community in Jerome Village. All that land signifies the growth still to come.

“This K-8 campus, right now, is kind of the hub of this Jerome Village,” Ehrsam says. “You’re really building from the ground up.”

Those two Jerome Village schools were intentionally opened with enrollment below the connected building’s full capacity because of their location in the district’s fastest growing area, the northwest region. Ehrsam anticipates flourishing development in Dr. Marschhausen with staff from Olde Sawmill Elementary School years to come and hopes for more restaurants, event, which would include live music and grocery stores, businesses and a library in the a festival-style atmosphere, is currently in near future. the works.

For now, Ehrsam sees the schools as Ehrsam hopes the two traditions will central to creating that community. Depp serve as pillars for the young community. is developing a free library to give students “That’s going to be a good way easy access to books throughout the year. to have families together,” he says.

The school has also begun an annual “That’s something we really didn’t get Depp Dash Fun Run & Walk. A spring to do last year.”

“Ultimately, it’s not what I do as superintendent, it’s how I lead our team and how our team allows the teachers to teach.” – Dr. John Marschhausen

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The future of Depp has been on Ehrsam’s mind since the beginning. When hiring the new staff – a thorough process which he estimates involved around 150 interviews – he consciously selected many seasoned, veteran teachers with younger, greener teachers interspersed to grow with the school.

Marschhausen emphasizes that much of the staff comes from within the district.

“The teachers who are there are elite teachers that have experience in Dublin City Schools,” he says. “From day one, when you walk into the classroom, it’s Dublin experience with Dublin teachers.”

For Ehrsam, the chance to be part of building up the new school for students was key to his decision to transition from Eli Pinney to Depp.

“It’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Ehrsam says. “Being able to welcome kids into a new school is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Cameron Carr is associate editor. Feedback welcome at ccarr@cityscenemediagroup.com.

Creating a Culture

Within Abraham Depp, Ehrsam has a similar focus on building traditions and culture for his students.

From Eli Pinney, Ehrsam carried over the concept of a leadership team, a group of students he regularly meets with for feedback and ideas. The school has already made efforts to bring student ideas to fruition.

The fifth-graders of 2020-21 proposed a rock garden as a class gift to the school and Depp administrators were happy to accommodate. Each student was offered three rocks to paint: one rock to be kept by the student, one returned to the school’s garden and one given to the Dublin Arts Council, which partnered with the school for the project.

Depp will continue to have rocks available for students to take and paint, making the garden an ongoing fixture of the school.

“When you walk up to the front walk it’s a really nice feature,” Ehrsam says. “What that’s going to do is hopefully inspire other students.”

Other traditions and community buildings in the works at Depp include a more conventional garden, as proposed by second grade students who were inspired by related classwork, and a buddy program where older students pair with younger ones to serve as peer role models.