Superintendent of Washtenaw Intermediate School District announces plans to retire at the end of year
Washtenaw Intermediate School District Superintendent William Miller announced plans to retire effective Dec. 31, ending a 22-year career at the ISD.
“It was a very difficult decision to make — Washtenaw County is the best place to live in Michigan,” he said. “I’ve been a part of this community and I’m looking forward to having my foot in both worlds, in the capital and staying involved in Washtenaw.”
Miller, the WISD superintendent for the last 12 years, has accepted a new role as the executive director of the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators. His new role will involve working with intermediate school districts from around the state and individual superintendents, while working with policymakers in Lansing.
“It’s going to be just as challenging, if not more so,” he said of his new organization, which runs many of the state’s grant programs. “We’ve got quite a few staffers, it’s a big operation.”
Chelsea Superintendent Dave Killips said Miller’s legacy will be the innovative programs he leaves behind, such as the Early College Alliance, the developing International Baccalaureate Program and the Widening Advancements for Youth Program.
Miller's work bringing Washtenaw districts together with consolidation of services has set a benchmark in the state, Killips said.
“He has done a wonderful job of navigating the WISD and county districts through a difficult time,” he said. “His vision and leadership has been instrumental in the adoption of education programs that will benefit all of our students for years to come.”
The WISD Board of Education will have a transition plan in place before the end of December, said board President Mark VanBogelen. Miller earned $148,993 with $30,400 in supplemental compensation in 2009.
“We thank Dr. Miller for his visionary leadership and dedicated service,” he said. “While it’s hard to let him go, the staff, programs and systems he helped put in place over the last 12 years will serve the district well into the future.”
Saline Superintendent Scot Graden said Miller’s move into Lansing politics is a positive step, both for him and the county. He said Miller’s experience in improving Washtenaw County schools will mean good things for the state.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for him and a great chance for the region to have him move into the state-level role of advocate for education issues,” Graden said. “If you look at the quality of education in our county and the scores districts produced under his leadership, there were some pretty good achievements. He’ll be missed.”
The opportunity to bring his two decades of experience in the WISD to Lansing was just too big of an opportunity to pass up, Miller said. He said he has been involved with the MAISA for close to 30 years and saw it as a right place, right time opportunity.
“It’s an important time in the state,” he said. “Some big changes need to be made and it’s a good time to be right in the thick of it and do the right thing for the kids in the state.”
Former Ann Arbor Superintendent Todd Roberts said Miller was helpful during his tenure in Ann Arbor, providing assistance in getting him started in the job.
Roberts said Miller’s desire to have the WISD work with the county’s districts to bring further collaboration was instrumental.
“He really provided a lot of assistance in bringing the districts together and thinking of how to work together more across district lines,” Roberts said, pointing to the ECA, IB program and the transportation consolidation. “He was really helpful and instrumental to get us to do those things.”
Ann Arbor Interim Superintendent Robert Allen said Miller’s work in consolidating services among districts was ahead of its time.
“He’s very knowledgeable in all education areas, he especially had a lot of foresight, looking ahead to what was coming down the pipe,” Allen said. “He tried to get out ahead of it to try and pull the 10 districts together to think of how we can consolidate.”
Miller said he’s ready to take his record of innovation to Lansing. But he said what he’s leaving behind will be special to him.
“(We built) one of the finest districts in the state, we’ve come a long way and have a great reputation,” he said. “We do great work and have a great staff and I’m leaving the district in excellent financial condition, which isn’t easy to do nowadays.”
Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.
Comments
Tamara Real
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 10:12 a.m.
The state's gain is Washtenaw County's loss in the departure of Bill Miller. He's been a real visionary in recognizing the value of arts and cultural experiences in K-12 education. He was extremely helpful to the Arts Alliance in making sure that we were able to include the viewpoints of educators, parents, and youth in the development of the Washtenaw County Cultural Master Plan. His guidance and insights will be sorely missed!
Tamara Real
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 10:09 a.m.
The state's gain is Washtenaw's loss in the departure of Bill Miller. He's been a real visionary in seeing the value of arts and cultural experiences in K-12 education and helping the Arts Alliance to include the perspectives of educators, parents, and youth in the development of the Washtenaw County Cultural Master Plan. His support and insights will be missed!
bs
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 : 8:30 p.m.
Bill Miller has been visionary in his leadership at WISD. As the public mandates, community needs, and funding streams have changed, he's led WISD through thoughtful and creative transitions. I wish him well, he's done much for this community. It would be nice if the comments in this thread didn't devolve into generalized rants against public education and/or teachers.
Peter Eckstein
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 : 9:58 a.m.
Missing from your story on Bill Miller was any mention of the excellent work he has done over the past decade in promoting a role for the district and its local schools in promoting pre-school learning. He has been a major force behind the program originally known as First Steps Washtenaw and in keeping it alive in spite of severe cuts in state support for it. If children do not come to school "ready to succeed" based on their learning during their pre-school years, then the job of every teacher becomes more difficult, and some students may never overcome their initial deficits. Congratulations to Bill on his new assignment, but we will miss him here. I hope his broad perspectives and energy can help expand pre-school programs and parenting education statewide.
Dr. I. Emsayin
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 : 8:15 a.m.
I don't think government workers who retire and take another job are getting rich. A retired teacher can barely live on what they make in retirement, maybe $35K a year. They almost have to take another job to make ends meet when retiring after 30 years if they are in their mid to late 50's (and many women who teach take time off to have a family so they are older when they retire). People like Dr. Miller could have made much more money in the private sector and we are fortunate that he chose to work for us rather than for money.
Rita
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 : 7:57 a.m.
Tony is correct. It is very lucrative to retire from a government job, collect retirement benefits, then work at another government job....all at taxpayer expense.
Tony Livingston
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 : 7:29 a.m.
I don't think people realize how many public employees take retirement pensions and benefits and work at another full time job. It is rampant in the city of Ann Arbor -- administrators as well as union employees. The purpose of retirement funds is to sustain people when they are no longer working. But, we are funding people in their fifties who will be working for another 10 or 15 years. It is a huge expense and is not sustainable. Esentially, we are paying someone NOT to do the job at the same time we are paying someone to DO the job. In France they are rioting because the government wants to move the age of retirement to 62. I would agree with that totally. This is one of the biggest reasons for the financial crisis in the city.
Basic Bob
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 11:04 p.m.
From the WISD website, "Dr. Miller's history with the district dates back to 1975 when he student taught". That's 35 years working, a decent career for most people.
chalkboardjoe
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 10 p.m.
MAISA is a political action committee for the benefit of the ISD's in the state. Guess Miller went from working for the Pentagon to working for the defense industry. Now he can collect a nice guaranteed pension and then a hefty salary that is supported by 529 school districts which are a subset of the 57 ISD's. Just another layer of bureaucracy taking money away from the kids. Here are some links to local school districts and how much they pay each year to associations such as the one mentioned above. Ann Arbor (35+ thousand): http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/budget/files/transparencyreportingdues.pdf Dexter (20+ thousand): http://www.dexter.k12.mi.us/Business/Budget%20Transparency-District%20Paid%20Association%20Dues.pdf Saline (25+ thousand): http://www.salineschools.com/images/stories/District%20Paid%20Association%20Dues%202009-2010.xls With over 500 districts and guessing an average of 25,000 in fees per district the students are seeing over 13 Million of their money being used to support all of the ancillary associations outside of the classroom. Don't even get me started about how much each district pays for union dues. The legacy costs for US autoworkers pales in comparison. Just see who the big advertisers are in the local and national elections. Anyway, how odd that he is leaving in two months, mid-year to boot, instead of staying on until a replacement is found or the end of the school year.
MyOpinion
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 8:31 p.m.
@Tony Livingston, Read the article: Miller, who was superintendent for 12 years, accepted a new role as the executive director of the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators. He said his new role will allow him to stay involved with the workings of education and intermediate school districts. My guess is that Miller is between 55 and 60. I know him indirectly.
Tony Livingston
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 6:43 p.m.
I am wondering how old Mr. Miller is. Is he someone that is young and will take retirement salary and benefits while working at another full time job? Or is he actually retiring from the working world.
heresmine
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 4:58 p.m.
@lorie. Well said.
pseudo
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 4:48 p.m.
@Do not taunt: interesting analysis of apples and oranges. I agree that ISD does fabulous work. There isn't a "but" coming next. Your comparison doesn't make any sense. In the time period you talk about, it would be an actual measurement to compare their faculty and staff numbers to the enrollment in our ISD AND to the services they are providing. There isn't anything logical about comparing it to the state-wide numbers.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 4:21 p.m.
The ISD does great work. And I mean that... but Between 2000 to 2009, enrollment in all of the state's public schools declined by 6.4 percent. However, the number of full-time staff on Intermediate School Districts' payrolls grew by 64%. It would be nice to see their funding levels tied to student populations.