As incoming Marietta City Schools Superintendent Mary Schaeffer familiarized herself with her soon-to-be district during a board of education meeting earlier this week, members of the board were enthusiastic about her hiring.

“We really believe that Dr. Mary Schaeffer really had that perfect combination of experience, expertise and care for students that we were looking for, and we feel that she’s going to be a wonderful fit,” board President Cody Parman said.

She’s been a teacher, an assistant principal, a curriculum director and a superintendent. In fact, she served Woodmore Local Schools as superintendent for three years. Now, she appears eager to begin to get to know and serve the students of Marietta.

“My family and I are truly excited to be joining the Marietta community,” Schaeffer said. “Marietta Schools has an incredibly rich history, and I’m so honored to have been selected to join this team.”

She arrives at a time when the community has expressed its support for the school district by voting to approve renewal of an emergency tax levy, but there are still plenty of challenges to work through.

Provided she receives support from the board that hired her and buy-in from the community who must see her as a collaborator in building the best school system possible for their children, she just may succeed.

But all that is to come.

For now, we join the board and all of Marietta in welcoming Schaeffer and wishing her the best of luck as the new superintendent of Marietta City Schools.