ROYAL OAK — There is a new superintendent of Royal Oak Schools and his name is John Tafelski.

Tafelski will succeed Mary Beth Fitzpatrick, the previous superintendent who is retiring after eight years.

Tafelski has a long history in education. As a boy, he watched his mother and father run classrooms and then decided to take on the “family business,” as he called it, and became a teacher himself in 2003.

“I used to get to go and see them (his parents) in schools and see them interact and see how they worked with kids,” he said. “I kind of thought it was awesome. It was something new and exciting every day, and no matter how the community changed or the materials changed, I could see my parents’ commitment to their students.”

Tafelski started as a teacher in Dearborn Heights, coached track and football, and participated in different boards at the schools he worked for.

Once he started to see his impact on his classroom and athletes, he knew he wanted to move into the world of administration and run a whole school.

“So, I got my master’s degree, and I got a job at Crestwood High School, which is in a different district, but within Dearborn Heights also,” he said.

Tafelski was the assistant principal and then moved on to the principal role at Crestwood. During this time he got his doctorate. After doing so, he moved into the central office role of assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Allen Park Public Schools where he has been for eight years.

“I saw a community like Royal Oak and the foundation that Mary Beth has set, and the team that is there, and this board that has an amazing reputation, I looked at it (the job application) and thought it would be a good fit for me and my family and the leadership style that I have,” he said. “I am honored and humbled and fortunate to be the next person to work with the excellent team that is there.”

School board President Tim Ciechorski said that the board had a great set of candidates up for consideration, but Tafelski ended up outscoring the competition by just a few points.

“In the final interview, both of the candidates were very, very close to each other. We had a ranking system, and the majority of the board had them ranked within points of each other,” Ciechorski said. “I think in the end it was the one that could lead the district in the direction that we felt the district needed to go”

The other finalist for the job was Catherine Kochanski, assistant superintendent for learning services for Walled Lake Consolidated Schools. The process of choosing the new superintendent involved not only the school board, but also staff and community members.

“The whole board wanted to be sure that the process was super transparent. We felt that it was really important to the community,” Ciechorski said.

Over the course of the selection process, the school board was guided by the Michigan Association of School Boards.

Throughout March and April, families, staff, students and community members were invited to provide input through surveys and engagement opportunities.

In the beginning of the search, the community was asked to complete a survey created by the board with help from Rodney Green, a consultant from the Michigan Association of School Boards.

“We got a little over 600 responses to that first call for survey responses, which according to Dr. Green was a fantastic turnout. Typically districts don’t get that much after that process,” Ciechorski said. “After that we had two virtual opportunities for the community members, staff and students to give their input, and there was a meeting in person. In fact, we had members of the community that went to every possible option.”

Tafelski said that seeing the community so involved was impressive and showed him he was definitely in the right place.

“I can’t reiterate how thankfulI am to the board and how grateful I am to the community for coming out. That was one of the things that was super impressive about Royal Oak, is it didn’t matter what it was, there were members in the community who were passionate about the schools,” he said. “When you have that, it’s amazing, because whether it’s in full support or giving feedback into something that is happening, schools can’t operate without the community in mind.”

Tafelski will officially begin as Royal Oak’s superintendent on July 1. He is hoping to learn a lot from Fitzpatrick and be well prepared to step into his new role.

“I am excited and looking forward to it. I have 30 days with Mary Beth, and I don’t know how you can capture eight years of institutional knowledge in 30 days, but I am excited to do that and soak up every minute with her and the board and leaders in the community and on the staff,” he said.

When the next school year comes, he is looking forward to leading the district in a hands-on way and becoming an approachable, well known, trustworthy advocate for the students, staff and community.

“One of the things that I talked about a lot in my interview, because the community is so intertwined with the district, is visibility and being in other people’s spaces. And that’s one of the things that I have always done as a leader,” he said. “I prided myself on knowing people’s names as a high school principal, and I would have parents that would say, like, ‘How do you know all 1,400 kids’ names at your school?’ And so, you know, I work hard to make sure that people feel like I know them, like I value them and like I appreciate them. And that’s not a show. It’s not disingenuous. … I want to be someone who can be a strong leader but also knows how to be a part of the team.”