Kenowa Hills — Following interviews with three candidates, the Board of Education voted Thursday night to enter contract negotiations with Kenowa Hills Director of Human Resources Cherie Horner to be its next superintendent.
The Board voted 4-3 in favor of Horner at a special meeting, after Vice President Corey Turner motioned to select Horner for the role, following final round of interviews with fellow candidates Randy Barton, assistant superintendent, Mason Public Schools, and Mitch Balingit, Collins Elementary principal in Forest Hills Public Schools.
Horner has served as the district’s director of human resources since 2025 and previously served as principal at Central Elementary for 10 years. She also held principal and assistant principal positions in Chicago Public Schools at Fulton Elementary School, located on Chicago’s south side, for nine years.
She completed her doctorate in education at the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2015, after successfully defending a final research paper about her five years as principal of Fulton Elementary School and her efforts to improve teaching and learning at a struggling turnaround school.
The plan is for Horner to start July 1, following the retirement of current Superintendent Jerry Hopkins on June 30.
“My heart and soul is all in this district,” Horner said to concluded her final interview. “It’s an honor to work for Kenowa Hills Public Schools and it would be an honor to lead the district into the next 10 years.”
During her interview, Horner presented her first 30-, 60- and 90-day plans and first-year vision as superintendent rooted in five priorities: transparency, trust, relationships, supportive accountability and student achievement.
Moving Kenowa Hills Forward
She explained how she engaged stakeholders to develop her entry plan and identified the district’s strengths and areas for growth.
“We want stability in the district and momentum to lead us to success,” she said. “I know the district very well; I have those relationships, so I don’t have to spend my first 30 days getting to know people.”
Horner also discussed her plans to implement a digital dashboard to track progress, which would be available to staff, students and the community to help hold district leaders accountable.
During deliberations, board members acknowledged the quality of all three candidates, but how Horner’s accomplishments and “robust” 90-day plan would lead the district forward.
“Cherie (Horner) is my top choice,” said Board President Erin LaBotz said. “I think our district needs a plan, and I appreciate her robust plan. We’ve seen student (achievement) data struggling and she’s ready to hit the ground running.”
Several board members explained their reasons for supporting Barton,
“(Barton) is a healthy balance between data and team building and I believe he would fit in culturally to our district,” said Board Treasurer Tracey Har.
Concerns were also raised about Horner being too familiar to the district to create progress and change. Trustee Jeff Gustinis expressed his desire to hire someone from outside the district for a fresh start.
However, Trustee Danielle Roberts referred to Horner as a “rare, exceptional leader.”
“We are elected by our peers to listen to our stakeholders and we received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback about Dr. Horner — 28 letters in total from students, state-wide educational leaders, administrators, counselors, teachers, staff and parents.”
She added: “Our district gave us a pretty strong answer and I feel that we needed to listen.”
Read more from Kenowa Hills:
• Trio of area schools recognized for literacy achievements
• School partners with GVSU for literacy event
