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Superintendent of Schools

Dr. Ryan J. Axe, Superintendent

Dr. Ryan Axe

Dr. Ryan J. Axe

Hello Manheim Central Community,

We are looking forward to another year of serving and celebrating our students and the community of Manheim Central. Our staff and School Board are committed to supporting all of our learners and families by offering a multitude of learning opportunities and top quality resources and facilities during and after the school day. Doing so is not possible without a supportive community so we want to say thank-you!

We are fortunate to be able to work with you and all of our young Barons.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ryan Axe 
E-Mail: axer@manheimcentral.org

Superintendent Goals (2024-2025)

1.  Leadership
  • Focus on leadership development within our team including teaching staff, administrators, and facility/business office leaders.
  • Work with our leaders to enhance and support the direction they are taking our building and district.
  •  Be visible across the buildings in the district including extracurricular activities so that students, staff and community see the administration is invested in them as a whole.
    • Advocacy for public schools through superintendent's meetings, attending zooms and meetings.
      • Aument in person meeting
    • Participated in a PSBA statewide video interview that was published on the PBSA site.
    • Meet with all Act 93 leaders monthly to discuss growth, development, and current important items.
    • Created a Leadership 101 session for the Community of Learners Day in order to develop interest from our staff as leaders. Hosted and developed our summer leadership retreat over three days this past summer.
    • Presented at the PASA Leadership forum about our work with MCL, multi-age learning, and badging.
2.  Quality
  • Develop a strategic vision Pre-K-12 for instruction, feedback, and assessment as defined in our current Comprehensive Plan.
  • Foster accountability across the district by communicating expectations and making sure we are meeting those expectations for our students and the community.
  • Strategic approach to direction of district initiatives that includes stakeholders and succinct communication with decisive explanation for decisions made.
    • Participated in the Comprehensive planning and implementation process with Ms. Fasick and Dr. Flannery.
    • Visit classrooms regularly and also invite Board members to visit buildings.
    • Conduct observations with the leadership team.
    • Ensure we are holding staff accountable for performance at all levels. We have been assertive when we determine a staff member is not performing up to our standard for learners.
    • Attend academic, safety, construction, student service, and other stakeholder's meetings to ensure we are all on the same page and going in the right direction.
    • Hosted Baron Advisory meetings to collect student feedback in person.
    • Address items pertaining to CTC, LCA, and other alternative education programs.
    • Schedule weekly visits to classrooms across the district.
    • Engaged in PASA training throughout the year.
3.  Community Relations
  • Develop ways to include our community partners and families when appropriate when we make decisions that benefit and impact Manheim.
  • Evaluation of areas where partnerships can be formed or enhanced in the local community and throughout the county.
  • Participate in community group meetings to learn about what they are doing as well as to share our strategic vision for the district.
    • Participate in the Manheim Chamber of Commerce meetings.
    • Guest speaker at the Mat Club, Basketball Camp, Manheim BIC
    • PASA presenter - requested by them.
    • Open our building to other schools so they can observe what we are doing.
    • Guest speaker at Chamber of Commerce event
    • Participated in Farm Show Events
    • Attend a variety of events as much as possible - attended at least one athletic event for every sport every season and attend all music/thespian shows.
    • Meet with Regional and Borough police quarterly.
    • Set up various visits with local businesses to build partnerships for our student interns.
4.  Financial Execution and Strategy
  • Control what we can in regard to cyber schools, home schoolers, and mandates fiscally while advocating for our district.
  • Ensure that the renovation project and potential outdoor field projects are progressing and the communication to stakeholders about the projects are timely and accurate.
  • Work with our Business Office and the Leadership Team to review where we can modify expenses and spending while still serving our students and community efficiently over the next fiscal cycle.
    • Heavily involved in construction project, field renovation project, and other facility related projects
    • Helped implement Penn Medicine Partnership with MCEA
    • Cyber school challenges address with team, county, and state
    • Department and building budget oversight.
      • Cut them back this year from last year across the board.
    • Review of positions and capacity
      • In progress into the summer
    • Balance what we are adding and where we can adjust.
5.  Professionalism/Ethics/Integrity
  • Continue to find ways to be open with our community about what we are doing and accomplishing across the district.
  • Seek feedback from the staff, students and community in order to improve and grow based on what the specific needs are for all students and stakeholders. Share our vision and direction with them as we gather this feedback.
  • Model expectations of our staff, students, and community by showing how to communicate, collaborate, and support each other through challenging and positive situations openly and fairly.
    • Navigated a challenging staff hiring situation with the Board, Stock & Leader, and our Cabinet to ensure a teacher would not be around Manheim Central students or other students moving forward. The outcome was that he surrendered his teaching certification.
    • Worked with a struggling teacher to move on from teaching before coming up for tenure.
    • Corrected Newsletter process for edits and content so that the community gets a true picture of our operations.
    • When a concern arises from a community member or parent, we address it within a day when possible and communicate within 24 hours with a response. I also meet with families or community members upon request so that they feel heard. I do that with staff and students as well.
    • Meet with each Board member individually in the summer and reach out and communicate throughout the school year through updates, executive sessions, emails, and phone calls. We also have a Board retreat in the summer.
    • Bi-Weekly strategic planning meeting with Ast. Superintendent, CFO, Curriculum Director to make sure we are all on the same page and focused on our direction.
    • Again, this year, we had zero professional teaching staff retirements, speaking to the culture we are creating as a team with the Board, Staff and Community.

Superintendent Evaluation And Objective Performance Standards and Assessment

The performance of the Superintendent shall be assessed against the objective performance standards listed below. The Board and Superintendent hereby mutually agree to the following performance standards:

  • Leadership
  • Quality
  • Community Relations
  • Financial Execution and Strategy
  • Professionalism/Ethics/Integrity

Update as of June 23, 2024:

The performance of the Superintendent for the 2023-2024 school year was assessed in June, 2024. The Superintendent met the objective performance standards listed above.

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