Dr. Robert Newhart started his first official full day as interim Superintendent of Schools for the St. Joseph School District Monday.

“It’s just good to get in here and get going.  I was excited to come into work today and I look forward to meeting various people and getting to know the in’s and out’s of the district a little bit further,” Newhart said.

Newhart was unanimously voted as the interim Superintendent by the Board of Education on June 4.  He said as soon as he accepted the position is when his work actually began.

“I’ve been off and on like we’ve talked about the past three weeks,” he said.

Newhart has been the superintendent of the Princeton R-V School District since 2014.  Before that, he was the superintendent of the Lexington R-V School District and the Polo R-VII School District.  But, Newhart said he had many ties to the St. Joseph area.

“My mom actually taught at St. Joe Central High School, I did my student teaching under Bill Hedge in St. Joe Central High School and I did my Junior experience down at St. Joe Benton, so I’ve always had a connection with the St. Joseph School District in that aspect,” Newhart said. “I went to Missouri Western as an undergrad, my son and daughter were graduates of Missouri Western so I’ve always had the ability to come over to St. Joe and see things.”

The St. Joseph School District has faced much turmoil recently. Newhart is the third superintendent for the district so far this year. He was named to the interim post to fill in for Dr. Jake Long after he was named superintendent of schools in the Mountain Home, Arkansas School District. Long assumed the job of acting superintendent in St Joseph when Dr. Fred Czerwonka resigned. Czerwonka came under fire after the state auditor’s office released a report that was critical of the school district. Newhart joins the district with an FBI and a U.S. Grand Jury investigation currently underway.  On June 22, the district announced the Internal Revenue Service also plans to examine federal tax returns for the 2013 calendar year.  And of course the State Audit report found earlier this year that a staggering $25 million in stipends were paid over the last eight years that were “either unapproved, unauthorized or improper.” The total is estimated to be in excess of $40 million dating back to 2001.

Newhart said he isn’t scared of the challenges he knows the district is facing.

“I’ve always enjoyed challenges and I’ve never shied away from challenges at any means,” he said. “The board’s done a very good job in laying out a 22-point plan that they’ve already started on and we want to continue with. That’s been instrumental I think in getting some things going here in the right direction.  We want to continue upon that as we go through the budget process, working towards being a little more prudent in what we’re doing in our budget process and also what we need to do to make the budget work.”

The public will have a chance to meet Newhart for themselves this week.  The district has scheduled a reception for Wednesday July 8, from 4 to 5:30pm.  The reception will be held at the Troester Media Center at 3401 Renick in St Joseph.