Kaffenbarger was nominated by Director Sheila Roberts and Treasurer Matthew Ketcham
“Dr. Kaffenbarger has shown to be the epitome of leadership in every facet of his work. There is no one we know who is more deserving of recognition,” Roberts and Ketcham said.
“Many times, leaders are faced with the pressure to ‘play politics’ and say what people want to hear, but their true character and attitudes come out behind closed doors. This is not the case with Dr. K., and because of that, his subordinates have the utmost trust and confidence in his leadership ability,” they added.
Kaffenbarger served at Triad Local Schools for nearly 21 years before coming to the ESC in January 2009. In 2011, he also was a shared superintendent at Mechanicsburg Exempted Village Schools for over three years while being the ESC superintendent.
During his last 12 years at the ESC, Kaffenbarger said it has grown significantly as they have increased the services offered and expanded programs and services already in place. He said after a “very difficult” 2009-10 school year, he pursued a new business model for the ESC.
“The ‘servant leadership’ philosophy grew out of that difficult time. Our mission is very simple: ‘We Work to Serve.’ We have worked very hard over the past nine years to implement this philosophy at every level of our agency. A service mentality is at the heart of every service and program we offer to our partner districts and internally for our staff of servant leaders,” he said.
As for his goals for the ESC, Kaffenbarger said he wants to continue to develop servant leaders in the agency, see this philosophy spread into partner districts and the greater community, every employee to be driven by the needs of others, and to develop potential leaders in the agency.
“I want to create a pipeline of trained servant leaders who can move into leadership positions and demonstrate what it means when we say ‘we work to serve.’ I would like us to become more adept at responding to the needs of our districts as they arise. The speed of change over the past 12 months due to the pandemic has made it clear that we must learn to respond quickly for the sake of the students we all serve,” he said.
Kaffenbarger said his faith in Jesus Christ and his dad will always be his greatest influence in life. He said his dad “taught me more through word and deed about how to lead and how to treat others.” Professionally, he said his biggest influences were his fourth-grade teacher, Evelyn Pence, who taught him he “could be more than I ever imagined possible,” his high school band director, Robert Martin, who showed him that “excellence matters,” and two superintendents, John Merriman and Carroll Meadows.
Kaffenbarger started his teaching career at Kenton Ridge High School in 1979, became principal of Triad Junior/Senior High School in 1988, then also became superintendent for the district in 2004. He received his bachelor’s degree in English education from Cedarville University after graduating from Urbana High School, his master’s in educational administration from Wright State University in 1984, and his doctorate in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University in 2002.
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