Jesse Steiner, a former teacher in the Bluffton schools was hired this week as superintendent of Celina Schools. For the past three school years he was superintendent at Hicksville Exempted Local Schools.

Steiner signed a three-year contract with Celina, starting Oct. 22 and ending July 31, 2015. His salary will be $95,000 per year.

Steiner was chosen from a pool of 30 candidates and joined seven other hopefuls in the first round of interviews in August. He and three others returned for a second interview a few weeks later; two finalists were interviewed last week, according to a story in The Daily Standard, Celina.

The story quoted Matt Gilmore, Celina school board president as stating:  "We had a really great pool of candidates, but it came down to this man and his clear passion for education, his innovation and just general good vibe, good character, good guy."

Steiner, 41, began his teaching career in Bluffton, where he graduted from high school. He served five years as middle school principal at Elmwood Local Schools in Bloomdale before taking over as superintendent at Hicksville.

He and his wife, Christa, are parents of three daughters. 

Just two weeks after he takes over as superintendent, voters will decide on a $27.7 million bond issue that would construct a new elementary building and demolish East and West elementaries.