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Superintendent Mark Lewis introduced his interim replacement at Monday's Lansing Board Of Education meeting.  Thomas Helmer will be filling the post starting September 1st until a new permanent superintendent can be hired.  Helmer is a retired educator with 18 years experience as a school superintendent.  He taught high school mathematics for 16 years, and held other administrative positions in his 38 year career.  After retiring two years ago he recently served as Interim Executive High School Principal in Liverpool, and will start in Lansing on August 20th.  " I see it as a leadership role," Helmer says.  "It appears to me that there are some things to be done to make the Lansing School District even better than it is, and I would like to help the Board of Education and the community find a way to address some of those issues."

Helmer grew up on a dairy farm in the Little Falls area.  He attended Utica College and Syracuse University, and earned a Master's degree at Syracuse University.  He began teaching in the Madison Central School district, later moving to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School.  He did his administrative internship at Cazenovia High School, then got his first administrative appointment in the Remsen Central School District, where he was  elementary principal, high school disciplinarian, and supervisor of buildings and grounds and transportation.  " It was what they called a very steep learning curve," he says.  "But it gave me some tremendous experiences for the positions I would find myself in over the next few years.  Actually my second year at Remsen I was given the title of assistant superintendent.  My duties changed slightly, and I then took on the administrative responsibilities for both the elementary school and the high school."

From there he served as superintendent at the Georgetown South Otselic district for three and a half years, at Malone Central School District for six and a half years.  He ended up in Solvay.  "I wanted to come back to Central New York to be closer to my original home and family," he says.  "I accepted the position of superintendent of schools for the Solvay Union Free School district.  I was there for 8 years and retired from there."

Helmer will be starting two weeks before Lewis's last day to insure a smooth transition.  He will face several challenges, not the least of them being the filling of the top three administrative positions in the district.  Business Administrator Larry Lawrence also leaves on August 31st, and Curriculum Coordinator Deb Pichette left Lansing last month.  While he is just learning about Lansing, he is aware that the district is facing important challenges and a bumpy recent history that has precipitated his filling the fourth interim superintendent stint in the past half dozen years.  "Wherever I have gone as a superintendent or a high school principal there has been the perception in the district that there were some issues that needed resolving," he says.  "Quite frankly, I enjoy a good educational team building challenge."

Helmer says his leadership style stresses participatory decision making.  "By that I mean I will make the decisions that are appropriate for the position of superintendent," he explains.  "But by the same token, there will seldom be a time, if ever, that I am not open to listening to ideas from whomever might be affected by the decision.  I hope that if people have brought ideas, suggestions about how things in the district could be improved, that they will feel comfortable sharing those with me either through a phone call or a personal visit."

Helmer's wife Cindy retired last year from her position as Chittenango Central School elementary school principal.  He enjoys wood and metal work, and recently took BOCES courses in welding.  But while he relishes being able to pursue these interests in retirement, he also says he has something to offer in education.  "I have been an educator vis-