Wayne Township has found its next superintendent

This article was published as part of a partnership between Chalkbeat Indiana, WFYI, and Mirror Indy to increase coverage of township school districts in Marion County.

Shenia Suggs will be the next superintendent of Wayne Township schools.

The Wayne Township school board voted unanimously Monday, Oct. 6, on a contract making Suggs the westside district’s next top administrator.

Suggs currently serves as assistant superintendent of human resources. She will be the sixth superintendent in Wayne Township’s history.

The assistant superintendent will succeed longtime Superintendent Jeff Butts, who’s led Wayne Township schools for 15 years.

In June, Butts announced his plans to retire from the district and take on a new role as executive director of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents. Suggs is expected to start in her new role in January.

“I’m feeling a little overwhelmed right now,” Suggs said as board members introduced her as the next superintendent. “But mostly grateful.”

As the district’s top administrator for human resources, Suggs oversees more than 2,300 employees in one of the state’s largest school districts. Ben Davis High School is the second largest brick-and-mortar school in Indiana, behind only Carmel High School. The district overall enrolls more than 16,000 students.

And, Suggs is someone who knows the large district “from every single angle,” Board President Brandon Bowman said.

She first joined the district in 1992 as an English teacher at Ben Davis. She’s since had roles as a school administrator at South Wayne Junior High School and as a district-level leader in student services and human relations.

Her selection comes following a nearly three-month search.

“She’s certainly got a heart for public education,” Bowman said. “The board exhausted every effort to find the best candidate, and we couldn't be happier that she was right here in our own house.”

The Wayne Township board approved an initial superintendent’s contract of 2.5 years — with extensions allowed for up to five years.

Suggs will make $221,780 in the new contract. That’s more than her predecessor’s initial base salary of $185,000 — offered to Butts when he first stepped into the role in 2011 — but in line with what other Marion County superintendents make today.

Washington Township’s new superintendent, for example, was offered a $220,000 base salary last October for the position he began this summer.

The Wayne Township compensation package also includes an $11,250 annual auto allowance stipend and a $4,000 technology stipend. Suggs will be eligible for an annual salary increase beginning July 1. The increase would depend on the results of the superintendent’s evaluation and increases offered to other Wayne Township administrators.

Suggs took time to thank her family — including her husband, and three sons who are all graduates of Ben Davis High School — as well as her longtime colleagues in the township. Many joined her on Oct. 6 to celebrate her hiring.

“I’ve grown up here,” she said to a full Wayne Township board meeting room. “I have become the educator and leader (I am) because of you.”

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Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.