Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
San Jon Municipal Schools has a new superintendent coming from Clayton who has a lengthy administrative history at school districts in Texas.
San Jon school board president Frank Gibson said Monday that Alan Umholtz, 62, on Aug. 1 officially will replace Janet Gladu, who departed from the San Jon district last month after four years to take a similar position in La Harpe, Illinois, so she could be closer to her children and grandchildren in that state. Gladu previously was a superintendent at a district in western Illinois.
The San Jon board made an offer to Umholtz after interviewing three candidates on July 8. Umholtz said in a phone interview Monday that he accepted an offer made later that day.
Umholtz said he and the board still were working out details on his salary. He said he put in his 30-day notice would would quit his job as business manager at Clayton Municipal Schools after one year there.
Umholtz said he was attracted to the San Jon area and especially the size of the community.
“I’ve done from 25,000 students to 100 students (as superintendent),” he said. “I guess my best job was with the small districts. There are only 115 here (in Clayton), and I love that. I feel like I’m just blessed, because this is perfect. I’m excited about being here.”
Umholtz also admitted it was a mistake when he retired as a superintendent in Texas three years ago.
“I shouldn’t have done it because I didn’t know I would have missed it that much,” he said.
He said he and his wife Beth soon would move to San Jon. She is a reading specialist, and they have adult daughters who also are teachers.
Umholtz said he previously held superintendent positions in Yorktown, Midway, Everton, Tahoka, Overton in Texas. He also was a curriculum director at Whitney, Texas, and a campus administrator in Crowley, Texas.
He received a bachelor’s degree in education from Texas Christian University in 1985 and a master’s from Texas Woman’s University in 1999.
The San Jon district in late June hired Dane Kennon of Hanover, New Mexico, as an interim superintendent after Gladu’s departure until a permanent superintendent could be found.