Cottingim named Twin Valley Superintendent

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WEST ALEXANDRIA — Effective Aug. 1, Scott Cottingim will be the new Superintendent of Twin Valley Local Community Schools.

Cottingim, formerly the Twin Valley South High School Principal, was hired as the superintendent during the TVCLSD Board of Education meeting on April 22.

Cottingim being named superintendent might come as a shock to some, as the Twin Valley Local Community School Board did a public superintendent search and announced its final two candidates with a “Meet the Candidates Night.”

At that time, Cottingim was not a finalist.

He explained, the final candidate was chosen and a position was offered, but that individual “backed out.” The board was “not happy” with the other candidate and had to find new candidates for the position. Instead of doing another superintendent search, they asked Cottingim if he would be interested in the position.

“I have been high school principal here for 14 years. When the board approached me, I had been thinking about it for a number of years. I gave it a lot of consideration and thought I was up for a new challenge personally and professionally,” he said.

“It really excited me, the challenge of leading the district, especially Twin Valley. I have been here a long time, have a lot invested in the district, and really love Twin Valley. When the board approached me, I wanted to help the district and create some stability in this position. We, unfortunately, have been a revolving door for a number of years. If we can get some stability at the top, I think our district will just flourish and continue to shine.”

While Cottingim does not officially start until early August, he has begun the transition over to superintendent already. He has been shadowing former superintendent Joe Scholler and stepping in during certain meetings.

As superintendent, he plans to look at the School Report Card and try to improve some of those grades. Overall, he wants to continue to prepare kids to be productive citizens in the community.

“Whether it is going to a college or straight to the workforce, they need to be college and career ready. The whole process from K-12, we need to prepare the kids to have marketable kids and be able to compete not just with students in Preble County, but worldwide. Kids have to have the skills to be able to compete for jobs with the whole area,” he said.

One of the reasons Cottingim is so attached to Twin Valley is that he is a lifelong Preble County resident. He has been at Twin Valley since 2005 as High School/7-12 Principal. Before that, he worked nine years at Preble Shawnee in various roles. He started his career as a teacher at Talawanda.

He received his undergraduate degree at Ohio Northern University and his Master’s Degree at University of Dayton.

He has been married to his wife since 1991. Together they have four children.

As a superintendent, Cottingim wants to be approachable to the district as a whole.

“I feel that I am very approachable and will always have an open door,” he said. “If we have concerns, as a district we need to know so that we can come up with solutions.”

Effective Aug. 1, Scott Cottingim will be the new Superintendent of Twin Valley Local Community Schools.
https://www.registerherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2019/07/web1_Scott.jpgEffective Aug. 1, Scott Cottingim will be the new Superintendent of Twin Valley Local Community Schools.

By Kelsey Kimbler

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Reach Kelsey Kimbler at 937-683-4061 or on Twitter @KKimbler_RH

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