Stephen M. Wilkins, chief operations officer of a large school district outside Atlanta, has been selected as Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations for the Shaker Heights City School District. He will be responsible for oversight of facilities, maintenance and custodial services, human resources, transportation, and food service.
A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Wilkins spent 27 years in the Army, serving for several years in operations management at the Pentagon. He also holds a master’s degree in strategic studies from the Army War College and a master’s in public administration from Harvard, and is pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership.
Upon completing his tour of military service in 2008, Wilkins moved into public education, first as chief of real property and facilities for the Chicago schools and subsequently as chief of human resources for the Alexandria (Va.) City Schools.
Since February 2012, he has been chief operations officer of the DeKalb County Schools, a 99,000-student district outside Atlanta. There, he supervises staff and budgets for the departments of facilities management, capital construction, transportation, and food service.
“Mr. Wilkins brings a high level of skill and experience in both operations and human resources, which are particularly important to the Shaker schools at this time,” said Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr., superintendent of the Shaker schools. “He will oversee the comprehensive facilities planning effort that we plan to undertake, as well as our efforts to recruit and retain the best possible staff.”
Wilkins’s appointment will be presented to the Board of Education for formal approval in June, and he will begin work on July 1. The position has been vacant since the retirement of Robert Kreiner last summer.