Dr. Jason Steffen, part of leadership team, succeeds Michael Borchers as Ludlow superintendent

By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter

Ludlow Independent Schools has had a changing of the guard, of sorts, as the superintendent mantle shifts from the shoulders of Michael Borchers to the shoulders of Dr. Jason Steffen.

That is how it might look on paper, but in reality, it is more like a relay race, where Borchers and Steffen are on the same team, and Borchers passes the leadership baton in mid- stride, never missing a beat.

Michael Borchers and Jason Steffen (Photo by Patricia Scheyer/NKyTribunw)

Michael Borchers has spent 29 years in the educational field and all of those years have been in the Ludlow school district. As a student himself, he thought he would go into teaching, because he liked math, and he liked sports and athletics, and teaching could combine the two.

“I was born and raised in Highland Heights, but I have lived in Taylor Mill with my family for 26 years,” he said. He and his wife have three grown children. “I went to Ludlow to teach high school math, and I also coached football and girls softball. I stayed there 3 years, and then
became assistant principal for a year.”

Borchers became the middle school principal for three years, and the high school principal for four years, and then Director of Curriculum for five years. When the superintendent post came open, he applied and was chosen. Thirteen years later, Borchers is stepping down, because he feels “it’s time to transition to something new.”

“When I decided to retire, I wanted to make sure I was going full speed till the very end,” he said. “Up until last week I was still planning like I was going to be here, because I was making all the decisions. So really there will only be a month where things are winding down. I won’t have much time to be nostalgic.”

Supt. Borchers in 2023 talking about the $40million renovations for the district. (Photo by Patricia Scheyer/NKyTribune)

Like many great leaders who foster their team’s talents, Borchers will step aside and let his successor, Jason Steffen, step into his shoes and go forward with his not inconsiderable talents to lead the district into the future.

Steffen is from a family where he was one of six kids in a family where home was Ft Thomas. He and his wife and three children still live there. Unlike Borchers, who liked math and sports, and came to the conclusion early on that teaching was a great way to enjoy both things, Steffen really didn’t know what he wanted to do for a career. When he started college, he seriously contemplated law, but took education courses and received a degree in history.

“I became a teacher, and started at Twenhofel as a 7th grade Social Studies,” he said. “I also coached football and basketball, was a sponsor in student council, coached academic team, and was a Tech teacher.”

He became assistant principal at Taylor Mill Elementary for 4 years and then moved over to the principal job at Mary A. Goetz school in Ludlow, a post he held for ten years.

Concurrent with his doctorate degree, Steffen became Director of Teaching and Learning at Ludlow. But more importantly, when Steffen took the job at Ludlow, hired by Borchers, he became part of a leadership team formed by Borchers who had just become superintendent. Along with high school principal Travis Caudill, Jennifer McMillan, and school board members, they became the A team and the district took off academically. The constant brainstorming of intelligent, forward-thinking people who always believed their kids deserve the best chances provided to them consistently proved that their decisions were correct for the district.

“We are all so very proud of what our students have accomplished,” said Borchers. “We provided opportunities, and they have taken advantage of them and are contenders with students in any other school.”

Supt. Borchers talks about the renovations; Steffen listens intently. (Photo by Patricia Scheyer/NKyTribune)

This year was especially significant for Steffen, too, because the kindergarteners who started at Ludlow when he started are graduating this year. He has seen life come full circle, and this comprehension has deepened his commitment to the district as well as his career.

The district is in the throes of a huge $40 million renovation, a game changer for a small, land-locked river city school district. Even though the students are working outside the box and accomplishing new goals, Borchers and Steffen realized the box needed to be enlarged to be able to provide the very best educational tools and environment.

Borchers said the top floor of the elementary and the top floor of the middle school as well as the cafeteria will all be finished this summer. The school schedule was set so that students were released last week, a week early, and the new school year will begin in early September so the messiest of the construction can be accomplished while the students are not in school.

“Hopefully by Christmas or the first of next year, we will have the multipurpose room, the band room, the offices and the district library finished,” he explained. “Then in February we’ll have the auditorium complete and start phasing in as we go along. It’s a huge puzzle, it’s not like just a real clean stop and go project, and it will probably go until December of 2025.”

Steffen has a list of things to continue moving the district in the forward direction.

“I want to do more things academically so that kids continue to be successful,” said Steffen. “I definitely want to keep the ship moving forward. We are going to have a new fine arts area, improve our band area, we’ll have a television studio, we’re going to have high end computer science equipment, and upgrade our athletic opportunities.”

Steffen models one of the new Ludlow shirts in August, 2022, (Photo by Patricia Scheyer/NKyTribune)

Both Steffen and Borchers see more students engaged in college education as the future unfolds, letting the students double up on their education to maximize the time spent accomplishing their education, as well as optimizing their careers. Right now, as much as 70 percent of their juniors and seniors are involved in some sort of college or career oriented classes that are supplementing their high school classes, and Steffen and Borchers believe that number will definitely grow as NKU and Gateway provide new programs.

Borchers is comfortable at this time turning everything over to a new regime. He said he and his team have been so completely on the same page for years, and that helps him to know that the work he started will continue to go forward.

As far as Dr. Steffen goes, he made it a point early on to get to know the community, the moms and dads and grandparents who drop the kids off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. He likes knowing the kids and their siblings, and the kids like knowing he is there.

Both Borchers and Steffen are confident that their school district can encourage kids to achieve one of the very best educational experiences that this area can provide.

Borchers will leave, knowing Dr. Steffen will pick up where he left off, never missing a step, and knowing that Ludlow Independent Schools will continue building a bright future.

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