Fort Wayne teacher announces run for schools superintendent seat

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) An adjunct faculty member at IPFW, Indiana Tech and the University of Saint Francis has announced she will seek the state schools chief seat.

Dawn M. Wooten said Friday she intends to seek the Republican nomination as candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction for Indiana. Incumbent Glenda Ritz, a Democrat who had briefly considered a run for the governor’s chair as her first term as schools chief comes to an end, is the only other candidate in the race.

A member of the College and Career Readiness Panel in 2014, Wooten has more than a decade of teaching experience at the university level, in addition to seven years of experience in home schooling in elementary and middle school and several years of tutoring students from all grade levels and from public, private, parochial, and home school arenas.

She also has more than a decade of experience in business and management, she said.

According to her Website, Wooten said Indiana schools have not improved during Glenda Ritz’s tenure and too many schools are failing. She added that her focus will be to improve ISTEP scores.

“This is a critical time for our students in Indiana,” Wooten wrote on her Website. “It is time to improve their educational opportunities and to give teachers the autonomy they need for students to be successful in their classrooms. I thank you for taking the time to get involved and I have great hope that we, as parents and educators, can make a real difference for the students of Indiana.”

Wooten holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in English from Indiana University Fort Wayne, as well as a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from Indiana Wesleyan University.