After 28 years of service to the Indian River School District, Dr. Susan Bunting has been handed its leading role. At a special board meeting on Monday, the school board members voted unanimously to select the current district director of instruction as its new superintendent.
Bunting will replace Lois Hobbs as the head of the district on July 1, upon Hobbs’ retirement after 10 years in the position.
“She’s been a very good teacher for me,” Bunting said of Hobbs. “We have made excellent progress under her guidance and I would like that to continue.”
Bunting was first interviewed in September for the superintendent position and was one of three internal candidates for the job. Indian River High School Principal Mark Steele, East Millsboro Elementary School Principal Gary Brittingham, Alan Hill and Milford School District Director of Personnel Robert Sutcliffe were also in the running for the superintendent job.
“Susan is a very intelligent person,” school board President Charles Bireley said. “We feel like we made the right choice. She has really paid her dues for the district.”
Almost 30 years ago, Bunting was first hired by the district as a language arts teacher at Selbyville Middle School. After serving in that position for only one year, Bunting worked as a district elementary teacher in its Excel program, teaching “gifted and talented” students throughout the district.
In 1991, she took her first job in the district’s central office as the supervisor of elementary education. After finishing her educational leadership doctoral program in August of 1996, she moved to her current position as the district’s director of instruction for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Bunting has served as the district’s director of instruction since Hobbs took the superintendent position. In her time in that office, Bunting said she is most proud of the district’s transition into this “age of accountability” governed by No Child Left Behind.
“This whole move has occurred in the last 10 years,” she said, and “We have moved into this age very successfully.”
Indian River students perennially score among the best in the state on Delaware State Testing Program tests and 10 district schools are recognized as “superior” by the program.
“That speaks for the success we’ve had,” Bunting said.
Bunting added that she is also proud to be a part of the district’s Leadership Institute program, which will be presented with an award by the State Chamber of Commerce on Monday, she said.
District officials who head the leadership program — including Dr. Bunting — have had success teaching district administrators how to become better educators in this time of “standards-based” instruction, she said.
“They’ve needed to become learning leaders and that’s what they’ve been able to become,” Bunting said. “And we’ve had fun doing it.”
The new head of the district said that she hopes that program, test scores and the district as a whole continue to thrive under her leadership, as it has in most of the last decade.
“I care very much about what happens in this district,” Bunting said. “If you face new challenge, it sharpens your skills and renews your talent. I’m very grateful to have this opportunity.”