NORMAL - The first of two final candidates looking to become Unit 5 school district's next superintendent likened leading the school district to steering a ship.

Gary Niehaus' previous superintendent position at Charleston school district included overseeing 3,000 students. If he is hired for the Normal-based community, his administrative job would involve 12,000 students and a quickly growing student body.

When asked how he felt about leading a much larger district, Niehaus equated it to the difference between turning a motor boat and a ship.

"It's not the size; it's what you do as a leader," said Niehaus, who became a principal by age 25.

His goal is to let people understand what he is doing and to give them enough information to buy into it.

Niehaus was interviewed Thursday and Craig Fiegel, currently superintendent at Evergreen Park school district, will be interviewed today. The interview process for the two finalists includes meetings with panels of Unit 5 employees, community leaders (including school board candidates, parents, former school board members and planners), and school board members.

The board expects to announce of the replacement for retiring Superintendent Alan Chapman next month.

Topics covered by the 14-member community panel included managing a successful referendum, handling gangs, discipline, adapting to growth, diversity and student achievement.

Niehaus said he learned many of the skills important to dealing with people while helping his grandfather as a boy on their family grain elevator operation in Southern Illinois. In school he was a good student and an athlete, he said.

Niehaus said that if he is named superintendent, his aims would include:

- Recruiting staff that more closely reflects the diversity of the district's students.

- Focusing on rigor in high school.

- Ensuring that everyone is informed about the district's efforts. Some Unit 5 staff members he met didn't know about the district's achievement gap task force, he noted.

He brings with him lessons he learned helping students succeed in a close to 30-year career in education - and from going through a failed referendum, he said.

Among those lessons is the need to connect with the neighborhoods. He said he has sat on porches with grandmothers to build relationships so that when problems developed at the bus stop, he knew who to call.

He said he is just as comfortable talking with new gang leaders in the area.

"I gained respect; I was in the neighborhood," he said.

At a prestigious school, he was part of recruiting 25 black families to join. He said many of the new members are among his closest friends today, and he still counts on their input.

He said he told that group, "If I get the job, don't forget me."

The school board's next steps are to discuss the interviews, check references, review the input from the panel participants and the select the best candidate.

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Gary Niehaus

Current position: Superintendent, Charleston Community Unit School District 1, since 2003.

Previous positions: Superintendent, Salem Elementary School District 111 (seven years); middle school principal, River Forrest, Champaign, and Effingham (13 years); high school assistant principal and academic dean (six years); physical education and social studies teacher (two years).

Education: Doctorate of education, Loyola University of Chicago; education specialist degree, Eastern Illinois University; M.S., Southeastern Louisiana University; B.S., Eastern Illinois University.

His style: Communication with a variety of people, including meeting grandmothers on their porches, talking to gang leaders, inviting grandparents to the school as volunteers and recruiting for diversity among staff.

His approach: Be firm, fair and consistent.

SOURCE: Unit 5, Gary Niehaus

Compiled by Phyllis Coulter