UNION CITY, Ohio — Doug Dunham is looking forward to taking over the superintendent’s duties at Mississinawa Valley Local Schools District on Aug. 1.
Mississinawa Valley and Ansonia Local School District have been sharing Jim Atchley as superintendent f0r the last three years.
“I will be meeting with the administrators at Mississinawa Valley soon, and I will be working some days in July with Mr. Atchley and Mr. [Nick] Hamilton to prepare myself for the school year,” Dunham said. “I look forward to Aug. 1 when I officially begin at Mississinawa Valley. I am finishing up my position at Tri-County North as principal, and will assist them with their transition to a new principal.”
He said he is excited about joining the MV School System.
“I am anxious and look forward to working with the staff, students, parents and community and continue to move Mississinawa Valley in the right direction,” he said. “I want to start meeting as many students and staff members as I can during the summer months, and prepare for the 2016-17 school year.”
For the last five years, he has been the grades 6-12 principal at Tri-County North, Lewisburg.
“After attending Sinclair Community College, I started working at the Trotwood Police Department in 1984,” Dunham said. “I continued to attend college while working on the police department, and, in 1995, I went into the position as the community relations officer for Trotwood Police. I started teaching programs to all of the Trotwood-Madison schools, so I pursued my business education teaching certification from Wittenberg University. I left the police department and taught two years at Northridge High School; four years at Miami Valley Career Technology Center; five years as Dixie High School principal; and the five years at at Tri-County North.”
A graduate of Valley View High School, Germantown, he earned his A.S. in business administration from Sinclair Community College, his bachelor of science in business management at Park College; his teaching certification from Wittenberg University in business education, his master’s in educational leadership from the University of Dayton and his superintendent licensure from the University of Dayton.
How did he find out about the opening at MV?
“I saw the job posted on the Dayton Area Consortium, and the job opportunity interested me,” he replied. “I was provided information about the Mississinawa Valley Schools, and I thought this position would be a good fit for me.”
He went on, “I have been in the southwest Ohio area all of my life. I grew up in Germantown, and resided in Lewisburg, and now I live in New Lebanon. I like small communities and the atmosphere which a community is part of a school district. I coached and watched my son participate in sports in the Cross County Conference, so I was able to see the student-athletes from each of the Darke County schools.”
Dunham said he will be marrying his fiancée Debbie Riley in July.
“I have two children, Suzannah Haag, 29 years of age, and Tyler Dunham, who is 28, and just served five years in the Army, and he will begin law school at the University of Dayton,” the superintendent said. “Suzannah is married to Brian Haag, and I have one grandchild, Lydia Haag, 18 months. My dad, Jim Dunham, is 86 and he resides in West Carrollton.”
Dunham, who likes to play golf, replied when asked if he was planning on moving here, “For this next year, I am going to stay where I am living, I have about a 45-minute drive, but the drive is not bad. In the future, we may look to move into the area.”
