By Noah Johnson njohnson@dailypress.net ESCANABA — A local superintendent is retiring after 34 years of service in education. Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District (DSISD) Superintendent Doug Leisenring announced he will retire from his position in the summer of 2025. Leisenring may be retiring from his position, but he will still be active in education across the state. He explained that the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators received a consolation grant from the state to create a student information database called MiGreatDataLake in conjunction with Amazon Web Services. Leisenring was tapped to oversee the project as the project manager. The service takes all student academic, behavioral, and assessment data to a cloud server farm and complies it together. He said the plan is to get the new service running seamlessly across the state in three years, creating artificial intelligence tools to assist principals, teachers, parents, and superintendents to access data more quickly to help with school improvements, state reporting, and help parents understand what the strengths and weaknesses are for their own children. The extensive project needed someone at the helm to steer it in the right direction. He said the project has plenty of technical personnel to work with Amazon on computer programming but wanted the project director to have a solid educational background. Leisenring made perfect sense in leading the project as he has experience as a teacher, technology director, elementary and high school principal, and superintendent. He said he had no plans of leaving and intended to stay another three to five years before retirement, but he couldn’t resist the new opportunity as a project manager. “While I’m really happy at Delta-Schoolcraft, and I love working here, and I got great staff, and the local districts are good to work with, I just felt like it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” he explained. His last day at the DSISD is June 30. Leisenring is in his ninth year as the DSISD superintendent, previously working in the Escanaba Area Schools system as a teacher, principal, and other roles. “It’s really exciting for me. It would take something like this to get me to leave because Delta Schoolcraft ISD is a really good job,” he said. He added that the new opportunity is bittersweet, as he is excited to start a new chapter but will miss his DSISD family. He reflected on his time as the superintendent, saying he was most proud of his ability to work with the local school districts on their budgets. “In eight of my nine years so far before this year, we’ve had 100 percent approval of our budget,” he said. A near-perfect record of budget approvals is almost unheard of, according to Leisenring. “When I told ISD’s down state, they were like, “How did you get 100% approval for your budget eight out of nine years?” They can’t believe it,” he said. However, Leisenring doesn’t take sole credit for budget approvals, saying his staff makes it possible. “They’re not approving the budget because of me. They’re approving the budget because of the work of the staff’s doing, and when your staff’s really humming, and they’re doing some good work, and people see that (the) districts approve your budget every year because they want you to keep doing what you’re doing,” he explained. He also pointed to other accomplishments such as the purchase of Soo Hill Elementary, used to house a learning center. He said the building is a bigger, more modern facility. “That’s a great facility for our kids,” he said. He also spoke about the nearly complete welding complex, saying it’s a great addition to the DSISD and the community. “That’s going to create a manufacturing hub between welding, machining, and product design and development; all that right there together in one corner of our building,” he said. He said he is proud of the programs he and his team implemented and their ability to maintain and improve facilities for students in Delta and Schoolcraft County. He said his staff was surprised when they learned of his retirement, and leaving them won’t be easy. “It’s definitely bittersweet; there’s no doubt about it. I just have a really solid administrative team. My professional staff on my support staff has never been better. Not to disparage anyone who has been here before, there’s been great people who have been here before, too; we just have a really good team right now,” he said. Leisenring is passionate about education, evidenced by his 34 years in the field. “It’s the opportunity to improve opportunities for kids. I get a lot of satisfaction out of that. Some of the best moments I’ve had are after graduation ceremonies, and parents would thank me for what we did to help their kids or, you know, helping teachers improve processes to make things go better,” he said. “I like solving problems. That to me, that’s fun work for me, and I love working with kids.” Like everything, Leisenring has had obstacles to overcome. One thing that sticks out the most is the role of social media. He gave the example of when he was in school, saying if something like a fight happened, it would fizzle out because there wasn’t a social media platform to run to and instantly post videos, pictures, and information. “You left school, and if you had any conflicts or any problems, it just went away. It was gone. But now, everything’s online, and everybody’s racing to go viral, and so I think that’s made that’s made life hard on kids. I think that’s part of the reason why I’m hiring so many social workers and school psychologists (because) kids struggle with that,” he explained. The DSISD is in the early stages of finding Leisenring’s replacement, and the goal is to have a new hire in place by May. He said if he could share one piece of advice with his successor, it would be to take time before making a decision. “Don’t be afraid to wait 24 hours to make a decision,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know everything because ISDs are big and are really comprehensive from birth to age 26.” Leisenring starts his new gig on July 1. He wanted to recognize the community for their support over the years, allowing him to pursue his career dreams in his hometown. “I’m just very thankful that I was able to work in the community that I grew up in, and I’m very appreciative of the support of the community,” he said.

By Noah Johnson

njohnson@dailypress.net

ESCANABA — A local superintendent is retiring after 34 years of service in education.

Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District (DSISD) Superintendent Doug Leisenring announced he will retire from his position in the summer of 2025.

Leisenring may be retiring from his position, but he will still be active in education across the state.

He explained that the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators received a consolation grant from the state to create a student information database called MiGreatDataLake in conjunction with Amazon Web Services.

Leisenring was tapped to oversee the project as the project manager.

The service takes all student academic, behavioral, and assessment data to a cloud server farm and complies it together.

He said the plan is to get the new service running seamlessly across the state in three years, creating artificial intelligence tools to assist principals, teachers, parents, and superintendents to access data more quickly to help with school improvements, state reporting, and help parents understand what the strengths and weaknesses are for their own children.

The extensive project needed someone at the helm to steer it in the right direction.

He said the project has plenty of technical personnel to work with Amazon on computer programming but wanted the project director to have a solid educational background.

Leisenring made perfect sense in leading the project as he has experience as a teacher, technology director, elementary and high school principal, and superintendent.

He said he had no plans of leaving and intended to stay another three to five years before retirement, but he couldn’t resist the new opportunity as a project manager.

“While I’m really happy at Delta-Schoolcraft, and I love working here, and I got great staff, and the local districts are good to work with, I just felt like it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” he explained.

His last day at the DSISD is June 30.

Leisenring is in his ninth year as the DSISD superintendent, previously working in the Escanaba Area Schools system as a teacher, principal, and other roles.

“It’s really exciting for me. It would take something like this to get me to leave because Delta Schoolcraft ISD is a really good job,” he said.

He added that the new opportunity is bittersweet, as he is excited to start a new chapter but will miss his DSISD family.

He reflected on his time as the superintendent, saying he was most proud of his ability to work with the local school districts on their budgets.

“In eight of my nine years so far before this year, we’ve had 100 percent approval of our budget,” he said.

A near-perfect record of budget approvals is almost unheard of, according to Leisenring.

“When I told ISD’s down state, they were like, “How did you get 100% approval for your budget eight out of nine years?” They can’t believe it,” he said.

However, Leisenring doesn’t take sole credit for budget approvals, saying his staff makes it possible.

“They’re not approving the budget because of me. They’re approving the budget because of the work of the staff’s doing, and when your staff’s really humming, and they’re doing some good work, and people see that (the) districts approve your budget every year because they want you to keep doing what you’re doing,” he explained.

He also pointed to other accomplishments such as the purchase of Soo Hill Elementary, used to house a learning center. He said the building is a bigger, more modern facility.

“That’s a great facility for our kids,” he said.

He also spoke about the nearly complete welding complex, saying it’s a great addition to the DSISD and the community.

“That’s going to create a manufacturing hub between welding, machining, and product design and development; all that right there together in one corner of our building,” he said.

He said he is proud of the programs he and his team implemented and their ability to maintain and improve facilities for students in Delta and Schoolcraft County.

He said his staff was surprised when they learned of his retirement, and leaving them won’t be easy.

“It’s definitely bittersweet; there’s no doubt about it. I just have a really solid administrative team. My professional staff on my support staff has never been better. Not to disparage anyone who has been here before, there’s been great people who have been here before, too; we just have a really good team right now,” he said.

Leisenring is passionate about education, evidenced by his 34 years in the field.

“It’s the opportunity to improve opportunities for kids. I get a lot of satisfaction out of that. Some of the best moments I’ve had are after graduation ceremonies, and parents would thank me for what we did to help their kids or, you know, helping teachers improve processes to make things go better,” he said.

“I like solving problems. That to me, that’s fun work for me, and I love working with kids.”

Like everything, Leisenring has had obstacles to overcome. One thing that sticks out the most is the role of social media.

He gave the example of when he was in school, saying if something like a fight happened, it would fizzle out because there wasn’t a social media platform to run to and instantly post videos, pictures, and information.

“You left school, and if you had any conflicts or any problems, it just went away. It was gone.

But now, everything’s online, and everybody’s racing to go viral, and so I think that’s made that’s made life hard on kids. I think that’s part of the reason why I’m hiring so many social workers and school psychologists (because) kids struggle with that,” he explained.

The DSISD is in the early stages of finding Leisenring’s replacement, and the goal is to have a new hire in place by May.

He said if he could share one piece of advice with his successor, it would be to take time before making a decision.

“Don’t be afraid to wait 24 hours to make a decision,” he said.

“Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know everything because ISDs are big and are really comprehensive from birth to age 26.”

Leisenring starts his new gig on July 1.

He wanted to recognize the community for their support over the years, allowing him to pursue his career dreams in his hometown.

“I’m just very thankful that I was able to work in the community that I grew up in, and I’m very appreciative of the support of the community,” he said.