Leading this week's Country Star

New Porum school super ready to face tough times

By Doug Russell, News Editor

PORUM, Sept. 10 — Rick Antle is used to adversity. He’d have to be, to coach 8-man football, teach students who sometimes didn’t want to learn and to continue to improve himself all at the same time.

Now he’s facing a different type of adversity, but he believes he’s up for the challenge.

“Jumping into the head chair is eye opening,” he said of his new position at Porum Public Schools. “It’s exciting, but there’s so much to learn.”

Eye opening in more ways than one. It’s the former coach and teacher’s first job as a superintendent, and between cuts in the state’s budget carving away the money going to schools and changes in the way tests are graded, he knows he’s got some tough times ahead.

But he has goals for himself and the school, no matter the challenges.

First and foremost, he said, he wants to “Encourage young people to attain an education that will guarantee a future of success. My definition of success may be different from others, but it doesn’t have anything to do with how much money you make.” Instead, he said, he believes people who are able to make a positive contribution to societies, who are able to achieve personal goals and desires without harming others, are successful. “I think it’s important for schools and the community to motivate people for that,” he said. “Money doesn’t make success. Making a contribution to society does.”

Porum’s school budget for the 2009-2010 school year is basically unchanged from the budget the year before, but the money the school actually receives from the state has been cut — and could be cut again.

“As a new superintendent, this scares me,” said Antle, 55. “You’re wanting to gain the confidence of the staff and the community and the first thing you’re having to look at is budget cuts.”

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