Superintendent’s Unconventional Approach Paying Off

Steve Thompson is not happy to just cruise along doing things the way they have always been done. The superintendent of Willoughby-Eastlake Schools in Ohio has made several bold moves over the years, moves many other superintendents and districts would dismiss as impossible.

Creating a STEM Campus

A few years ago, Steve noticed a building for sale in the community that happened to be the former headquarters of the power management company, Eaton. The district bought it for $3.8 million, which included all the state of the art technology inside the building, and opened a STEM and technology focused campus called the School of Innovation. The school has been wildly successful with extremely high levels of student engagement and off-the-charts results. Architects have projected that it would have cost the district $27 million to build the school from the ground up.

Success Academy

After acquiring the power management building, Thompson initiated the purchase of an old car dealership and opened a school called the Success Academy that focuses on trades such as auto collision repair, auto repair business technologies, welding, and cosmetology. The school has done wonders for a population of students who were previously uninterested in school and headed toward dropping out.

It’s this kind of leadership that has taken the district from having an $87-million-dollar deficit in 2011 to now having cash reserves projected through 2022. The highly impactful moves sparked by Steve Thompson are paying off and providing a bright future for the families of the Ohio district.

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