Boardman Superintendent steps down to focus on next chapter in life

BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) – Sitting in his office Monday afternoon, Tim Saxton talked about his time with the Boardman Schools first as a student, then as high school principal, the director of operations, and finally the superintendent.

July 31 will be Saxton’s last day as Superintendent of the Boardman Schools but he’s not retiring. As Saxton likes to say, he’s ready for the next chapter.

“Boardman’s meant a lot to me. You can tell right now in my voice, it’s not going to be easy to walk out of here but I’m looking forward to the next challenge,” Saxton said.

Construction of a new football stadium was one of Saxton’s accomplishments as superintendent, and he’s leaving with a balanced budget thanks to the passage of a levy six years ago.

“I’m probably most proud to take a look at the people that are here that I had a chance to hire or maybe had something to do with them coming to Boardman. Just fantastic people. I’ll tell you that’s what I’m most proud of — the people who are here,” he said.

One thing Saxton wished he had accomplished was replacing the nearly 100-year-old Center Intermediate School.

“I wished we could have found a way to get the center done or at least have broken ground before I left but it will be. I’ll put that on Mr. Neifer’s to-do list,” he said.

Mr. Neifer is the former East Palestine Superintendent who’s replacing Saxton.

When asked why he resigned, Saxton said he’s 58 — with a lot of energy — and being a superintendent is time-consuming. For example, he just returned from a two-week beach vacation.

“It was the first time I’ve gone on vacation and I really wasn’t doing school work. People weren’t calling, I wasn’t solving problems, I wasn’t emailing, I wasn’t on the phone. It was kind of nice.”

However, Saxton is not retiring just yet. He’s just giving up his position as superintendent at Boardman. In fact, he’s already received two offers from companies involved with education to come work for them.

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