He championed the value of education – School News Network

Kent ISD– During the Kent ISD Student Leadership Community’s end-of-year celebration, Kent ISD Superintendent Ron Koehler was seen doing what he does best: watching and listening in the background.

Koehler, who is retiring as superintendent after 28 years at Kent ISD, is a communicator. And what a communicator does best, he says, is listen.

“Listening to voters, responding to them and showing that you are responsive is, in my opinion, the most important thing you can do in government. And I also believe that people make good decisions when they are fully informed,” Koehler said, adding that he believes genuine, two-way communication “is the lubricant that makes government work.”

Through listening, Koehler led several Kent ISD initiatives, such as the Student Leadership Community.

“Throughout his career at Kent ISD, Ron Koehler has always focused on the needs of students,” said Dan Behm, who worked with Koehler as executive director of West Michigan Advocates and superintendent of Forest Hills. “He is a tireless advocate for listening directly to students – he knows that students have wisdom and authenticity when it comes to how to best meet their needs.”

Behm said Koehler’s care for students is why he was instrumental in passing the 2017 millage increase, a local response to Michigan’s underinvestment in K-12 education, and in driving the bipartisan research that resulted in the School Finance Research Collaborative.

“Ron Koehler leads by example,” said Deputy Superintendent Ron Gorman, who will succeed Koehler as superintendent. “He is an incredibly transformative and collaborative leader who gives his colleagues clear autonomy in implementing his vision.”

“One feature of his exceptional leadership skills is his accessibility. Ron truly cares about all of Kent ISD’s stakeholders and takes time out of his busy schedule to meet with anyone who has a question or concern. He takes all concerns seriously.”

Gorman said he has learned a lot from Koehler in his two years at Kent ISD and wants to stay in touch and continue to benefit from Koehler’s knowledge.

From education reporter to education manager

Koehler had no interest in pursuing an education as a career, but chose journalism instead. His first job was at the news agency United Press International, where he worked while earning his master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Illinois-Springfield. The job eventually brought Koehler to Grand Rapids.

From UPI, he worked at WOOD-TV, then at Grand Rapids Magazine/Business Journal and for the office of former Governor Jim Blanchard.

When Blanchard lost re-election in 1990, Koehler took a job at a small advertising agency, which he eventually bought. The agency closed after its largest client consolidated the advertising industry, and Koehler returned to public relations.

“With my background in public affairs, I found that I could devote all my time to the Grand Rapids Area Transit Authority, as it was then called, or the city council, or the Grand Rapids Public Schools, or any of my public service clients, but I didn’t really care if I helped anyone sell another office chair,” Koehler said.

In 1996, Koehler learned that Kent ISD had an opening for a communications director.

“The school superintendents decided they needed help with communications because there was this new world of choice schools and charter schools. This created competition in the world of education and they felt they needed a communications director to help them craft the message and help them ‘be competitive,’ so to speak.”

The right person, the right skills, the right time

When Koehler came on board at Kent ISD, the operational and political climate for districts was challenging, he said. One of the first issues he addressed was the school voucher campaign in 2000, which would have allowed tax dollars from public education to be used to pay tuition at private schools. The proposal was defeated.

Four years later, Koehler led Kent ISD’s successful effort to increase special education funding to help districts with the costs of mandated programs. Working with school superintendents, he also founded a grassroots parent and community organization to advocate for public education in Lansing.

“Nothing is more important than education, period. It is the cornerstone. I also believe that it is something like the cornerstone of our democracy, that the poorest among us can sit in the same classroom as the richest among us, and that we can learn from each other and together and create a better community.”

— outgoing Kent ISD Superintendent Ron Koehler

In 2010, Koehler was appointed assistant superintendent for organizational and community initiatives and legislative affairs, and his list of accomplishments continues to grow, including the Talent Triangle, which brought together the ISDs of Kent, Muskegon and Ottawa counties to advocate for public education; the Reading Now Network, which brought more than 100 school districts together to examine reading data and share best practices; the project-based school Kent Innovation High; the hybrid learning academy MySchool@Kent; and a National Career Readiness Certificate/Guaranteed Diploma collaboration with other ISDs and the business community.

In 2019, Koehler retired from Kent ISD, but that was short-lived. In 2021, he was asked by the school board to serve as interim superintendent. After a year, the board asked him if he would serve as superintendent to give the group more time to search.

It hasn’t been an easy time for education either, as school districts have struggled with the COVID pandemic and the political divide that has followed. But Koehler said his skills in communications and crisis management have served Kent ISD and local districts well during this time.

As superintendent, Koehler also:

The initiatives he is most proud of are the School News Network because it connects communities and schools, and the Kent School Services Network, which fills a growing gap in supportive services by providing students and families with access to community resources.

The happiness of doing something so fulfilling

Koehler said he considers his work complete and it is time to pass the baton to Gorman, who he believes will lead Kent ISD and the school districts through the next chapter.

“I feel comfortable handing the task over to an educational leader who has spent his entire career focused on the economically disadvantaged and the minority groups that will soon be the majority of the students we serve and their needs,” Koehler said. “That’s very important to me. … I think that’s the biggest lever we have in terms of improving both the lives of the students we serve and our community, because we really are community builders in the schools.”

Koehler said he believes the highest priority is to prepare students for their roles as future leaders by helping them understand the complexities of the world they live in and will one day lead.

“Nothing is more important than education, period. It is the cornerstone, I also believe it is the cornerstone of our democracy, so to speak, that the poorest among us can sit in the same classroom as the richest among us and learn from each other and together and create a better community.”

Furthermore, these knowledge and skills could also be used by someone with a journalism background to convey the value of education.

“I’ve been really lucky to find this place, to find something that is so fulfilling, in a field where my special skills that no one considers a priority for imparting education have turned out to be extraordinarily helpful to the entire company,” Koehler said. “I never would have thought this. I never aspired to something like this.”

Then, after a pause, he added, “This is so much better than helping someone sell another office chair.”

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