Royal Oak Schools appoints new deputy superintendent

ROYAL OAK — Royal Oak Schools announced the appointment of Joe Youanes as the deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction. 

This is a new position where Youanes will be working closely with Superintendent John Tafelski to push forward the district’s goals to create “a community of excellence” while providing “an inclusive, diverse, safe, and student-first environment,” according to a Royal Oak Schools press release. 

Youanes has been in the district for 12 years now, starting as the assistant principal at the middle school. For eight years, Youanes was the principal at Adams Elementary, and then in the last three years he has been the executive director of curriculum and instruction. 

“I am always trying to find a way to have a larger impact, a bigger impact on the larger number of students, essentially, is kind of why I went from assistant principal to principal to the district-level leadership,” Youanes said. “Now in this role, I am excited because I can continue to foster impactful learning environments and communities.”

Youanes said that he hopes he can continue to learn more and grow from this opportunity as the deputy superintendent while growing a better environment for the students. 

“I’ll have the ability, even more so than before, to work directly with our schools and our principals and maybe help engage them in finding ways to have some more impactful learning opportunities for our kids,” he said. “Also in this role as deputy superintendent, I can work on strengthening and expanding the school-community connections that are important for any school district.”

Tafelski said that when he was looking for someone to fill this position, Youanes stood out because of his connections within the school district. 

“I realized pretty quickly that he had the respect and admiration of a lot of the teachers, parents and administrators here, and also had a lot of the institutional knowledge that would help move the district forward as we transition from Mary Beth (Fitzpatrick), who was a wonderful superintendent for a really long time, to a new superintendent,” Tafelski said. 

Being the new superintendent as of July 1, Tafelski wanted a second pair of eyes that had been acquainted with the school district. Youanes will help Tafelski to review the current school system and decide what needs to be updated. 

“The question is, are there improvements that we can make in some areas where, you know, I just have a different lens coming from my experience, as opposed to the experience that many of the people have here in Royal Oak,” Tafelski said. “When I looked at Joe’s skill set and his high emotional intelligence in the way he works with people, his curricular and instruction knowledge, like all of that made this a pretty easy decision.”

Youanes said that two new responsibilities he will be taking on that were not in his previous job description are the financial and physical resources of the district.  

“Whether it’s human capital or whether it’s the financial budget that we have, just looking at the big picture at a district level and trying to help manage those things,” he said. “So, it’s exciting. And then I’ll be able to kind of touch multiple areas, not just the curriculum.”

Youanes will also be the one to step in while Tafelski is away at his new-superintendent “boot camps,” according to Tafelski. During those times, Youanes will be the one in charge. 

“It is an honor to serve the Royal Oak Schools community in this capacity,” Youanes said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to working alongside our educators, students, and families to support learning, equity, and innovation across the district.”

For more information on Royal Oak Schools visit royaloakschools.org.