When Steve Splichal came to Eudora to serve as superintendent, he was taking over a school district that had fewer than 100 kids in each graduating class. 

But about a year or two into the job, that changed as more housing developed in town. Each class began to exceed over 100 kids and see steady, but still manageable growth. 

On average, each class has had about 125 students, with some outliers on years pushing past 145, Splichal said. 

Splichal became the superintendent of the Eudora School District seven years ago. He’s leaving to move to Wyoming with his wife, Julie, to serve as superintendent for the Fremont County School District — an opportunity he referred to in a message to Eudora families as “a dream.” 

The School Board began its process of finding Splichal’s successor in late March. As his contract begins to approach its end date in late June, he reflected on the investment the community stakeholders had in K-12 education and the various moments that made his time in the district special during a recent interview with The Times. 

“There’s a passion for schools in Eudora,” Splichal said. “The community really values the education that kids receive here.” 

The School Board approved Splichal’s hire in February 2014. He replaced former Superintendent Don Grosdidier.

Current School Board President Mark Chrislip was one of the members back then who approved Splichal’s hiring. Chrislip said it stuck out to him at the time how much Splichal seemed to understand the needs of the school district and how engaged he was with the kids. 

And during his time as superintendent, Chrislip said Splichal did great work bringing the staff, students and community together during the COVID-19 pandemic especially.

“I think he’s done a great job since he’s been here, and I’m sad to see him go,” Chrislip said. “I think he’s got a great opportunity ahead of him.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the biggest challenges the community had to tackle during his tenure, Splichal said. Eudora educators had to solve questions like how to deliver content to kids, all while navigating general unease about the virus that health officials were still learning new information about every day. 

Ultimately, the goal was to create a safe learning environment for kids as they came back to school, but rolling the pandemic and mitigation steps into it was tough, Splichal. 

For some, it was too much. For others, it wasn’t enough, Splichal said. 

“I think we’re all dealing with the pandemic differently. I think recognizing that you deal with it differently than I do doesn’t make you more right or more wrong, or me more right or more wrong. It’s different,” Splichal said.  

“I think when you have something that is so charging to our emotions and everything that goes into it, it’s tough to navigate through some of the steps and pieces that had to be put in place,” he continued.

Apart from the pandemic, K-12 education continues to have challenges throughout Kansas that school districts will have to handle. At the legislative level, school districts are dealing with budget concerns. 

But in tandem, there’s some level of gaps in staffing that need to continue to be resolved — universities aren’t turning out as many educators, particularly in areas like vocational programming. 

“We’re fortunate to have a really good staff. The challenge is that from time to time, there’ll be changes in that,” Splichal said. “And where are the individuals in the pipeline across the state to fill in those vacancies? I think that’s something we’ve spent a lot of time and a great deal of conversation around.”

He said he’s proud of the work that staff has done to the benefit of students, such as improvements and growth in social, emotional support as well as expansion of pre-school and vocational programming.

Splichal can’t pinpoint a specific memory that especially sticks out to him during his time in Eudora, because of how special and unique his time in the school district was, he said. 

“I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the community and the school district,” Splichal said. “It’s been a good place.” 

Reach reporter Nicole Asbury at [email protected].

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