UNION CO., KY (WFIE) -
Union County Schools have a new superintendent and it's the first female superintendent in the district's history.
Patricia Sheffer is the new superintendent and it's been a quite a journey for her. She started off as a volunteer for the district 19 years ago.
When Sheffer was a teacher at Uniontown Elementary, she says the climate there was something special.
"That's when I started thinking 'Okay, I've got to do something for everybody, I want everybody to feel like this,'" Sheffer says.
Years have passed since Sheffer started out. Now, the hallway full of pictures of past Superintendents will soon have a woman.
"I don't think it really matters if you're female or male, as long as you make every decision based on what's right for our students, you'll be successful," noted Sheffer.
Teacher Kelli Sprague and Schools Chairwoman Jennifer Buckman say there's overwhelming support from not only other employees in the district, but the community as well.
"We know that our leader has been where we are in our same school district and that means a lot to us," said Sprague.
"They're going to see her in the grocery store, they're going to see her pumping gas and I think that everybody's excited that, like I said earlier, that she does have a vested interest because she does live here," said Buckman.
Recently, Union County Schools improved their student achievement ranking from 161st in the state to 52nd and Sheffer is determined to break the top 10.
"My challenge is, I need to re-examine what we've done in the past and see what we need to improve on," Sheffer said.
The district took seven months to pick their new superintendent, and Sheffer says she's most excited about creating a fun learning environment for every student in the county.
"Before I retire, I want to make sure every student can walk down the hall and look in any teacher's classroom and say 'I can't wait to be in there.'"
This is the first local superintendent the board has hired in 28 years.
