Wendel leaving his job at FR

After 10 years working for Fort Recovery Local Schools, Kurt Wendel will have his last day on the job Friday.

But he isn’t leaving public education behind. Wendel, the educational management information system and transportation supervisor for Fort Recovery, begins his new job as the Mercer County Educational Resource Center treasurer Monday.

The Fort Recovery resident said he’s excited to start “crunching numbers” again; while he does some accounting work at his current job, his new position will put his bachelor’s degree in accounting to good work.

“I really graduated college thinking I was going to work in a factory my whole life in the accounting department, and the economy looked very glum,” Wendel said. “There was a job in the paper for EMIS coordinator and I really didn’t even know what I was applying for, but I knew public education wasn’t going anywhere.”

EMIS is Ohio’s data collection system and is used to determine the amount of funding each school gets from the state. And as transportation director, he coordinates the buses, routes and transportation for extracurricular activities and field trips.

“I do the accounts payable and purchase orders,” Wendel said. “(Tuesday) morning started when my radio started making noises about the fog, so I was on the phone with the superintendent about fog, at 5 a.m.”

When Justin Firks, Fort Recovery Local Schools superintendent, first started his job a year-and-a-half ago, he often consulted Wendel.

“A lot of times as being a new superintendent, whenever I had questions I went to Kurt and he was able to find the answer pretty quick,” Firks said.

“We appreciate his time and dedication to the district and the roles that he served in over the last 10-plus years and he’s going to be missed here, but we look forward to seeing his success at the next step in his career.”

Wendel will be “excellent” as treasurer, Firks said, for the same reasons that made him a good employee at Fort Recovery for the past decade.

“He’s got a mathematical mind, dealing with numbers, projected costs, and you know looking at different ways for cost savings to help school districts out, that’s exactly what his mind is built for,” Firks said. “He’s an extremely friendly person and so he had a solid relationship not only with our staff but with our bus drivers, and also the students. He had a care and concern for Fort Recovery.”

Shelly Vaughn, Mercer County ESC’s superintendent and former Fort Recovery superintendent, said she was looking forward to Wendel’s first day at his new position.

“I’m very excited to work with Kurt again … (he’s) efficient, effective, good with what’s best for kids,” Vaughn said, listing reasons why Wendel is a good fit for his new role as treasurer. “His experience with school finances and working knowledge of public education.”

The ESC oversees the six districts of schools in the county that work together to provide services such as special education, preschool and school psychology. Vaughn said Wendel will be a good asset to the group.

In his new job, Wendel will deal with the finances of all six districts that are used to fund the service center. He’ll still have the chance to work with Fort Recovery directly, both as treasurer and as a substitute bus driver for the schools.

Wendel said he never would have predicted that he’d still be working in schools 10 years after starting his first job out of college. He’ll miss his coworkers at Fort Recovery, but said he’s looking forward to new challenges.

“There’s no way,” Wendel said. “I love it, but there’s no way you could have told me, especially when I was graduating college, that I’d be working in public education.”