The Sand Creek Community Schools Board of Education unanimously accepted the resignation of school district superintendent Mr. Steve Laundra at its February 15th school board meeting. Mr. Laundra officially announced his retirement from public education effective June 30, 2021 after serving 40 years at the school as a teacher, coach, athletic director, JH/HS Asst. Principal, JH/HS Principal and school Superintendent. He is currently completing his 12th year as the school district’s Superintendent & High School Principal. Mr. Laundra has worked his entire professional career at Sand Creek Schools since earning a BBA degree in business education from Western Michigan University in 1981. The school board was made aware of Mr. Laundra’s intent to retire more than two years ago, and they are nearing the end of implementing a board approved administrative transition plan to replace him.
That stated, at its February 15th meeting the Sand Creek Board of Education went on to unanimously approve Mrs. Sharon Smith as our school district’s next superintendent, effective July 1, 2021. Her official job title will be Superintendent/CFO. Sharon has been Sand Creek’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for 20+ years and is highly regarded and respected in the field of school finance. She has worked for six different public school superintendents during her twenty years in public education. This included working for the current LISD superintendent as well as the last three Sand Creek superintendents; Mr. Laundra, Mr. Hackett and Mr. Barnes. These experiences along with her proven commitment to educational excellence, her overall knowledge of the school district as both an employee and a parent, and her school finance expertise are what impressed our school board Personnel Committee, and eventually the entire school board, the most. A little more than a year ago, the Sand Creek Board of Education adopted an administrative transition plan to address Mr. Laundra’s retirement timeline. At that time, the board approved transition plan named Sharon as the district’s Assistant Superintendent/CFO for 2020-21 school year. This designed transition period allowed Sharon a full-time opportunity to work closely with Mr. Laundra during the current 2020-21 school year.
In addition to the board naming Mrs. Smith as the next superintendent of schools, the board also unanimously approved Mr. John Peacock as the district’s Junior/Senior High School Principal for the 2021-22 school year. Mr. Peacock’s current administrative job title is Junior High Principal & 6-12 Dean of Students. Mr. Laundra’s announced retirement opened up the High School Principal position. Mr. Peacock has been with Sand Creek Community Schools for twenty-one years, 17 as a JH/HS Business Technology teacher and 7 of those as our Athletic Director; and the past 4 years as a 6-12 school administrator. Mr. Peacock is a highly respected, well-liked employee, and he’s very anxious, excited and ready to continue his school administration career at Sand Creek.
The Sand Creek administration team together with the school board Personnel Committee, the board of education and the teachers union are currently working on creating a job description for a new full-time administrator with hopes of posting the position in the near future.