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Challenge will take Adams to Utah Eagle Point school superintendent to go By VICKI GUARINO EAGLE POINT -- Schools Superintendent Ted Adams will be leaving at the end of the school year to become head of the 13,000-student Ogden, Utah, district. Adams, 51, announced his decision to Eagle Point staff Thursday. A formal contract hasn't been signed with Ogden officials, Adams said, but the move is certain. He said he is taking the position to continue the innovations he began in Eagle Point to bring parents and communities into school operations and decision-making. He said he was drawn to Ogden because he sees a community strongly committed to families and to giving parents and students a greater role in education. "They're just at the beginning of the process and that's exciting," Adams said. "I don't want to go where the work is already done." He said he wasn't interested in having a job as much as he was in having a challenge. Adams told the Eagle Point School board earlier this year that he intended to seek a new appointment elsewhere. He had been committed to changes in the 4,000-student Eagle Point district. Since arriving in 1993, Adams has decentralized administration and made individual schools in the district's four communities answerable to parents and neighbors. As a result, site councils in each of the district's eight schools have significant control. Although he was hired because he promised changes, Adams' tenure has been rocky, especially in the past year. Some parents and staff have complained that the district needs more centralized control. A few critics last summer said Adams was doing too little to lead the district and should resign. Subsequently, one school board member resigned, saying Adams wouldn't accept direction or scrutiny by the board. Then, in November, the Eagle Point board worked out a new, three-year contract with Adams. Two of Adams' strong board supporters are leaving, however. In March, board Chairwoman Cheryl Stout and member Dick Kendrick lost their bids for re-election. Despite the changing politics in Eagle Point schools, incoming board members Douglas McKinley and John Blanchard -- who take office as Adams leaves June 30 -- joined current board members in asking Adams to reconsider. Stout said Thursday that board and incoming board members asked Adams to stay. Adams told the board of his move Wednesday night. "I'm sad to see him go," Stout said Thursday. "He is a man of vision, and he has been a mentor to me." The board will consider the process to pick Adams' successor during its Wednesday board meeting. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA