In the next two months, appointments for two prominent positions in North Royalton are expected to be announced. The City of North Royalton is expected to choose the new Chief of Police, who will replace Police Chief Ken Bilinovich, who retires on April 2. The North Royalton Board of Education is expected to name the appointment of the new School Superintendent, replacing Greg Gurka, who will retire in June.
Ken Bilinovich has served as the North Royalton Chief of Police since May 2017, replacing retiring Police Chief John Elek. At that time, he stated that he felt “lucky and blessed” to receive this promotion. Even before he started with the North Royalton Police Department, Bilinovich was no stranger to police work. His mother was a detective with the Cleveland Police Department for 30 years, retiring in 1988. “Growing up, seeing her work, I knew early on that is what I wanted to do,” he said.
Bilinovich started with the North Royalton department as a patrolman in October of 1983 and was promoted to Sergeant in July of 1991. He also has been in charge of the Police Reserves for more than 20 years. Bilinovich is a North Royalton resident, where he lives with his wife and family. He graduated from Valley Forge High School in 1977, served in the Air Force and attended the Police Executive Administrative Leadership School in 2007. Bilinovich has spent his entire career working the streets. “I’ve been here 33 years, so I’ve seen everything from homicides to barking dogs,” he said. When asked of his retirement plans, Bilinovich said that he didn’t have anything specific at this time, especially since it’s not a good time to travel.
At the time of this writing, Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz said that civil service test results were expected soon. The test was administered to those Lieutenants and Sergeants who were interested in applying for the position. Antoskiewicz will then interview the two top-scoring candidates and make a decision. He hopes to have the replacement in place by mid-April.
Last December, North Royalton School District Superintendent Greg Gurka announced his retirement effective June 1. Before coming to the North Royalton School District, Gurka served as Elementary Principal for Avon Lake Schools, an Assistant Middle School Principal for North Olmsted Schools and a Middle School Principal in Parma. He was also an Administrative Associate for the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools, as well as a science and social studies teacher. He received his Master’s degree in Education and Administration from Cleveland State University and his Superintendent’s License from Ashland University. Gurka was appointed as interim School Superintendent of the North Royalton School District in 2013, replacing then-Superintendent Ed Vittardi. The appointment was contracted to run July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. The North Royalton Board of Education had conducted a search for the position for several months at that time and also considered internal candidates within the North Royalton District. At that time, there was no interest. Due to time constraints of filling the position by the end of that school year, the Board decided to appoint an interim superintendent to serve a one-year term. The Board reached out again to Gurka, who was then Director of Personnel. He was then approved as interim Superintendent, and then approved as Superintendent in October 2013. His current contract expires on July 31 of this year.
When asked what Gurka thought were the biggest changes in primary education since he started in the field, Gurka replied that “there have been so many changes in education over the last 35 years or so, some positive and some not so much. If I had to say just one thing, it would be the use of technology in the classroom. When I started teaching, technology was overhead projectors, filmstrips and 16mm film projectors. Now, with one-to-one ratio technology in our classrooms and all students having their own devices, the ability to access information and solve real life problems is limitless.” When asked if there were any major changes he would like to see in the District, he said that “we are seeing major changes to the district right now as our dream of new facilities becomes reality. These new and renovated spaces will allow teaching and learning to occur in state-of-the-art classrooms that are flexible to meet the ever-changing needs of our students. I am so proud of the tremendous community support that allowed us to realize this vision.”
At this point, Gurka’s retirement plans include taking time to relax and enjoy time with family and friends. When asked if there were any considerations to work in a different aspect of education in the future, Gurka simply responded by saying, “right now I have no plans to do that. However, you never know what the future holds!”
Applications for the School Superintendent position were due on March 1, 2021. “We had a great response and many interested candidates in the superintendent position for the North Royalton City Schools,” said North Royalton School Board President, Heidi Dolezal.  “The district is using Finding Leaders to oversee the workings of the search.  The field has been narrowed to six candidates.  The candidates will be interviewed next week.  The two finalists will be asked questions by designated stakeholders (school, city, parent groups, and citizens) and further questioning from the board in April.  We will be announcing the finalist mid-April.”
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer