Few administrators have been involved in as many facets of a school district’s operations as Joe Cronk at Anderson Community Schools.
Cronk is preparing to oversee his final academic year as superintendent. He plans to retire at the end of his contract June 30, 2027.
In 37 years with the district, Cronk has held leadership posts in several areas, beginning in December 1989 as the director of data processing. He also led the district’s computing services office and served as director of information and learning services, executive director of educational technology and chief operations officer.
He also taught as a substitute and served as a substitute principal.
As chief operating officer and director of student services, Cronk stepped into the superintendent’s role on an interim basis in March 2020. The following year, despite skepticism expressed by some over his lack of background as an educator, Cronk had the interim tag removed from his title.
“I’ve done a lot of different things, so I knew what the superintendency was going to be like,” Cronk said. “I’d been to the cabinet meetings. I interacted with the superintendents. I had advised the superintendents, so I pretty much knew what I was getting into.”
Cronk’s ascension to the top leadership post came at a time of considerable uncertainty for the district. His predecessor, Tim Smith, had been placed on administrative leave while negotiating a separation agreement with the school board. Plus, in-person education had been shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cronk said his main goal during the early days of his tenure was “to heal the wounds of the outgoing superintendent.” As pandemic-related restrictions eased and students returned to in-person instruction, his focus was helping ACS “recover and stabilize,” as well as establishing peace and stability with the teachers union and improving academics.
Five years later, Cronk said he believes those objectives have been largely realized.
‘TRADITIONS ARE A CONTINUUM’
In 2022, the district came under scrutiny when a video of the high school basketball pregame routine involving the school’s Indian mascot and maiden was posted to TikTok. Response to the video opened a new front in the district’s efforts to navigate an issue that had been at the center of a larger nationwide discussion about the use of Native American imagery and ceremony.
Cronk led an internal task force that spent weeks meeting, researching and documenting the ways the district represented Anderson’s Native American history. Following weeks of debate, Cronk’s recommendation to the board — that the pregame routine be discontinued immediately while the district’s athletic teams would continue to use the Indians name and logo — was accepted unanimously.
Cronk said he heard claims that Native Americans came and taught the dance, but the administration could not find any evidence to prove that.
Looking back, Cronk said “there’s nothing I would have changed” with the decision to leave the dance in the past.
“How can you be honorable if the people you say you’re honoring, say that you’re not being honorable?” Cronk said. “What does that teach our kids if we continue to do it?”
Cronk’s proposal to the board also included initiating a formal partnership with the Delaware Tribe of Indians to modernize some of the district’s most visible traditions. The Indian logo also soon was retired, replaced with a more modern-looking “A.”
“I think that’s been a very fruitful partnership,” Cronk said. “I think our students have learned from that, and I think they’re better off. Would I do anything different again? No, I don’t think I would.”
District officials have pledged to teach a more authentic history of Chief Anderson, Lenape and the Delaware Tribe’s connection to Anderson, with Cronk even entering various ACS classrooms to give lectures about the topic.
“It was an opportunity for me to get back into the classroom and have more contact with the students,” Cronk said.
POST-PANDEMIC CHALLENGES
A significant topic of discussion during Cronk’s tenure has been test scores, specifically the Indiana Reading Evaluation & Determination, or I-READ, assessment.
Cronk said the district has seen “steady growth” in these test scores. In 2025, ACS saw a 10.5% increase in I-READ passing scores.
“You’re not going to see an 11% increase every year, because you’ve gone from the class that learned how to read online, to a class that learned how to read under the Science of Reading,” he said.
“We’re never happy with the growth until 100% of our kids pass, but in Anderson, Indiana, where poverty and trauma affect school in such a big way, we have to continue to apply strategies and promote and meet the kids’ needs and meet them where they are and bring them where they need to be.”
Cronk said ACS was one of the first school corporations in the state to adopt the Science of Reading, which focuses on how a child learns and adapts to that.
ACS has since placed reading specialists in each of its elementary schools to assist teachers with the practice.
DEBATE WITHOUT ADVERSITY
As ACS prepares for Cronk’s final year, staff and administrators said Cronk’s legacy in the district will ultimately prove to be a positive one.
Richard Geisler, the band director at Anderson High School, said Cronk has been an ardent supporter of the band through the years.
“He listens, and he wants to be part of finding solutions to problems,” Geisler said. “In every conversation I’ve had with him, he’s always been interested in doing what he can to help.”
Geisler recalled a band fundraiser as an occasion where Cronk’s support was evident.
“We did a funny thing with the crowd and had a run-through of the band, and (Cronk) came out and sat down at the drum set and played along with us for part of the show,” Geisler said. “He’s invited us to board meetings to play, and he’s helped us behind the scenes with equipment. He’s been wonderful.”
Scott Deetz, the district’s chief human resources officer, was the superintendent at Madison-Grant United School Corp. in 2020 and got to know Cronk while collaborating as superintendents. Deetz said Cronk “isn’t afraid to tackle tough things, but works on it so there are win-win situations as much as possible.”
“During his time as superintendent, to help improve ACS, he has kept that ship going in the right direction, regardless of national or state mandates that come at public education,” Deetz said. “He’s able to take that all in, and work and collaborate with leaders in the district or surrounding districts to take a firm stand and say, ‘This is what public education is all about, and this is the route we need to take.’ ”
As the ACS board of trustees looks for a new superintendent, the board has been holding town hall meetings to gather input from community members on they want in a superintendent. ACS Board President Mandy Webb said this has been very helpful in their search.
“One thing we’ve gotten over and over again from the community is that they would like to see, whoever is chosen, to be out in the community and learn about the people in the community,” Webb said. “There’s been lots of things stated, but that’s probably been the No. 1 thing we’ve heard.”
Randy Harrison, president of the Anderson Federation of Teachers Local 519, said the union’s partnership with Cronk has become progressively more healthy.
“Over the course of two-plus decades, we’ve worked with a lot of superintendents,” Harrison said. “From my perspective, Cronk is an individual that understands the employee-management relationship within the labor scope of things is not always easy, but he understands it doesn’t have to be adversarial.
“He understands that we’re not always going to agree,” Harrison added, “but he’s willing to find compromise and middle ground and get to a resolution without it being adversarial. He’s been one of the better superintendents, from my perspective, in terms of his willingness to work and communicate and be transparent.”
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.