Center Grove superintendent earns honor

Center Grove schools Superintendent Richard Arkanoff has been named 2018 Superintendent of the Year in central Indiana.

Arkanoff has received the distinction for District V of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents, which includes schools in Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion and Shelby counties. He was selected by the other superintendents in the district.

Arkanoff has been superintendent at Center Grove Community Schools since 2011.

Under Arkanoff’s leadership, the district has pursued outside financial support and has received more than $2.5 million in donations from community partners to further instruction and curriculum resources.

Center Grove has also developed leadership development programs called “Google U” and “tLead” to identify strong leaders in the district and enhance their leadership skills, according to a news release from the superintendents association.

Teachers are spending time in the summer on professional development, which they are paid for, and the shift also cuts down on the need to hire substitutes to cover classes while teachers attend training.

The school district has also turned a former maintenance building into an Innovation Center where both students and staff can learn from one another in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), project-based-learning and other topics. The center cuts the cost of sending staff and students elsewhere for training, the news release said.

Arkanoff earned three degrees from Indiana University and his Ed.D. in school administration from Capella University. He formerly served as superintendent and director of special education for the Edinburgh Community School Corp.

One of the eight district winners will be named Indiana Superintendent of the Year for 2018 and will represent Indiana in the American Association of School Administrators National Superintendent of the Year program.