By Chrissy Prichard

Express News Staff

Rex Germer has been the principal at the Town of Webb School since 2008, and is now preparing to take over as the district’s new superintendent. The school’s current superintendent, Don Gooley, is retiring Jan. 31.

The Town of Webb Board of Education has spent the past several weeks searching for a new superintendent. The process involved researching applicants’ credentials, conducting numerous interviews, and facilitating interview sessions between the three final candidates and community members, students, teachers and staff. Jay Boak, BOCES District Superintendent, assisted the board in the search. In all, 15 applications were received for the position.

When Germer received the call from Boak offering him the position, he didn’t know what to expect. He says the news surprised him a bit.

“When I got the call from Mr. Boak, I didn’t know which way it was going to go,” he says. “I really didn’t know what to think. The process was such a long and intense process, and because I had no inside knowledge of the other candidates, I was kind of an outsider on the inside, which was a little bit odd,” says Germer.

A Town of Webb graduate himself, Germer has a connection to the community that will serve him well and will add a level of satisfaction to his new job. He says having prior experience in this community and in the school district will help him a lot.

“In terms of knowing who we are and what we are and knowing the community, this will be a big advantage,” he says. “I think that’s a really big piece of this. The community is unique.”

Germer moved to the area from Long Island at the age of 14. His father had been visiting the area since the age of five, so his family had a long term connection to the area. Rex and his parents, Arthur and Ginny, along with his brothers Scott and Sven and sister Danielle, first made their home in a cabin at Holiday Shores Estates on Fourth Lake before building their permanent home. His siblings are all Town of Webb graduates as well, and his mother has served on the board of education.

Although he wasn’t born here, Germer considers this his home and is glad to have a long term opportunity to stay here. “My hope is to have this as a long term location and a long term job,” he says. “I feel like I’m really invested here, and I think this is a unique opportunity. I don’t know of many people who have been able to go back to where they came from and be given he chance to have as much impact as I potentially will have here.”

Although the moves he made in his career have ultimately brought him to where he is today, it has been more about taking advantage of the opportunities he was given than about climbing the career ladder.

“My whole philosophy behind the moves that I’ve made hasn’t been so much about getting to a particular next step, it’s been about the timing and when opportunities afford themselves,” he said. “If it had been five years from now, and I was still here as principal, that would’ve been the time. It just happens right now is the time to make this move.”

His career progression has been focused around changes that he can grow from. “For me, it’s about stepping up and challenging myself while improving myself, and really doing what I can to better who we are as a school,” Germer said.

He has been meeting regularly with Gooley to prepare for the transition into his new role, learning as much as he can before he takes over the job. “Mr. Gooley’s got a lot of experience and a lot of years behind him and a lot of knowledge of the district, so he’s going to be passing that along to us,” says Germer.

Once Germer takes over, he plans to spend the remainder of the school year getting used to his new job before making any big changes.  “I think we function pretty well, but I think we also have some things we need to look at,” he says.

Once he gets settled in he will be ready to move forward. “I need to get the perspective from that new role to really see how things are functioning. I have my own perception of how things function now, but I need to get the perception from that role,” says Germer. “I’m sure there will be some things that will change along the way, but to come in mid year and shake it up is not really appropriate.”

As far as big changes go, Germer says there a lot of things the state is in the process of changing that need to play out first. This puts some changes on the horizon that are not clear enough yet to work towards.

“There are some things that are on the docket, but it’s just a matter of figuring out at what point we’re going to jump into them with both feet.”

With issues like declining enrollment and tightening budgets, Germer recognizes that guiding the district into the future won’t be easy. “We’ve got our challenges ahead, there's no denying that as things move forward. The state is changing, our numbers are changing, the school is changing, so we’ve got some things to look at. But I think as a community, the school becomes the center of the community, and has been and needs to continue that way and even grow from where we are now.”

One of the next big things to take place at the school will be finding a new principal to take Germer’s place. The board will assign an interim principal to the position until a permanent replacement is found. “We’re not going to jump in to anything, it’s going to be a full search,” says Germer.

As far as a new principal goes, Germer says character is just as important as experience. “I can’t say that I have a cookie cutter image of what that person needs to be. I really think it’s about how that person comes across and how we can work together,” he says. “It doesn’t matter to me if they have no experience as principal or if they’ve been a principal for the last ten years. It’s really about the school, and who the school needs here, and who we can work with as a community and a school.”

Although it is a big undertaking, Germer welcomes the challenges that come with his new job.

“There’s pieces of it that I’m going to have to learn, so there is a learning curve, but at the same time there’s more excitement to it because I’m getting to continue and progress here in the current district,” says Germer. “I’m really excited. I’m pleased that the board has afforded me the opportunity to take on this new role here.”