AN ENDURING LEGACY AND A NEW START

AN ENDURING LEGACY AND A NEW START

Baldwin City schools honor retiring superintendent, welcome newcomer to the role

Story by Taylor Worden

After almost 16 years, Paul Dorathy is retiring as superintendent of Baldwin City schools and passing the baton to incoming hire Mark Dodge.

Dorathy’s career in education spans almost 38 years. After first serving as a teacher in Emporia, Dorathy went on to serve in several principal and director positions across Kansas schools before taking his first superintendent position in Southern Lyon County in 1998.

Dorathy served in that role for 8 years before becoming superintendent at Baldwin City, where he has been ever since.

Dorathy’s passion for the position has been sustained by the people he’s worked with over the years in the community.

“The students and the staff, I mean, that’s why I do this job in the first place … because my satisfaction comes when students are able to do well and get the kind of education that they would like to have,” he says.

Ande Parks first joined the board of education at about the same time Dorathy was hired. He notes that Dorathy became a very important presence in the district.

“He immediately brought a calm and relatable sense of integrity to the district. He’s a very approachable man, he’s a very caring man, and we’ve been through a lot of difficult things together,” Parks says. “I think through it all, while members of our community might not agree with him or decisions the board makes, I think everyone knows that Paul’s heart is in the right place and that he’s really trying to do what is best for kids in this town.”

After his retirement, Dorathy and his wife, Cyndi, plan to spend more time with their 11 grandchildren, as well as pursue a travel goal: they hope to visit every national park in the United States.

“I’ve been very lucky to have been the superintendent in this community for this long,” Dorathy says. “I don’t think most superintendents get the opportunity to stay for 16 years. I think that is an anomaly ... but Cyndi and I just fell in love with this community.”

As Dorathy prepares for retirement, he is also helping to facilitate the transition to Dodge, who will take over as superintendent on July 1, 2022.

“Mark Dodge is a good man,” Dorathy says. “They hired a good person … and he’ll do a great job here in Baldwin.”

Dodge has served in a variety of roles in education throughout his career and most recently was the director of school improvement and communications at Eudora. However, throughout his career, Dodge says that he has always been working toward a goal: to be a superintendent.

“If you look back at the career path that I’ve taken, everything that I’ve done along the way is preparing me for this position,” Dodge notes. “It’s just something that’s been a part of me that I’ve wanted to do.”

Dodge has family ties in Baldwin City as well as a love for the community, but the passion and dedication of the faculty and staff were important factors that drew him to the district.

The selection process for finding the next superintendent for USD 348 was intentional and methodical, says Kelley Bethel-Smith, president of the board of education. The thorough process narrowed the field to a handful of qualified candidates, and Dodge emerged as the frontrunner.

“We really wanted to do our best to make the absolute right choice for our district …, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Mark Dodge is the right fit for what we were looking for at this time [and] in this place,” Bethel-Smith says.

She explained that Dodge’s visionary, out-of-the-box thinking and his ability to problem solve was just one of the ways he can help USD 348 achieve the goals they have identified.

“I’m very excited about the future of this district because all eyes are on the kids and what’s going to serve them best,” Bethel- Smith says.

Dodge is already setting goals, starting with building relationships within the community and learning what it means to be a Baldwin City Bulldog.

“From an education standpoint, we want to focus on continuous improvement,” Dodge says. “We want to identify those things that we’re doing well and keep moving that needle, identify those areas that need improvement, and determine what we can do collectively to help move those things forward as a community.”

With the support of the board and the community, Dodge can’t wait to get started in his dream role in Baldwin City.

“We are so thankful to the Baldwin community. So far, everyone that we’ve come across, and everyone who’s reached out to us, has been so welcoming and so supportive,” Dodge says. “We just can’t wait to get there and roll up our sleeves and be part of the community.”