K-12 chief job
committees and meeting with state lawmakers.
“This is a multibillion dollar organization,” State Sen. Andrew Brenner, Rdelaware, said. “It needs a CEO so to speak.”
Is anyone in the position now?
Stephanie Siddens has been serving as interim state superintendent since Paolo Demaria retired in September 2021.
Hagan didn’t have any complaints about Siddens’ work in that position, but he doesn’t think an interim leader, generally speaking, has the same authority as a permanent hire.
“They’re not going to make any bold moves and understandably,” he said.
Why has this process dragged out for more than a year?
The board initially narrowed a pool of 28 candidates down to one man, former state school board member Steve Dackin. He became Ohio’s new state superintendent in May but then resigned less than a month later, citing “revolving door” concerns.
Dackin initially led the search for the state superintendent job. He even resigned from Columbus State Community College to focus on it. Then, a few days before the application window closed, he resigned from the state board and applied for the superintendent position.
A recent settlement with the Ohio Ethics Commission revealed that the commission advised Dackin to leave without pay or face potential prosecution for the way he secured the superintendent position.
“Mr. Dackin acknowledges that his acceptance of the position of Superintendent after discussing the matter with an ODE employee supports a potential violation of R C. 102.03(E) of the Ohio Ethics law,” according to the settlement.
Did the board know of potential violations before picking Dackin?
Text messages between board members obtained by the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau showed that members were aware of concerns that Dackin may have used his earlier position on the board to help win the job.
Eight days before the vote, the Ohio Ethics Commission also warned Siddens that Dackin “may have participated in the selection process” and “it is likely the commission may open an inquiry into this matter.”
That letter was forwarded to all board members.
What about the other finalists?
The state board narrowed that initial pool of 28 finalists down to a top three, and the runner-up was Larry Hook, superintendent of Springboro Community City School District in Southwest Ohio. Hook received four votes to Dackin’s 14.
Hagan voted for Hook and tried to get the board to hire him after Dackin resigned, but the board rejected his emergency resolution 10-7.
“I tried to bring that as an emergency because I knew he was under consideration for another job...,” Hagan said. “We missed the boat on that one from my perspective.”
Brenner said the divide over who to hire comes down to the political ideologies of the different members. State board seats are technically nonpartisan but it’s not hard to tell who is a Republican and who is a Democrat.
“You’ve got a bunch of different factions, he said. “That’s really what led to the delay in the superintendent search.”
What happens next?
The board is waiting to see which search firm companies respond to its request for proposals. The deadline was Friday.
Hagan hopes they pick one soon and begin to narrow the pool of candidates again. But he and other conservatives suspect that several board members have already settled on Interim Superintendent Siddens.
“I do think we have an anointed superintendent already,” Fessler said at the September meeting.
Board member Charlotte Mcguire responded during the meeting by acknowledging “the elephant in the room.”
“She indicated to me that she is interested in being considered and would follow the process set forth,” Mcguire told the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau.
“This is an important time for education in our state, which is why the decisions regarding the process and hiring of a state superintendent of public instruction are so important,” she said. The board “continues to thoroughly consider the process.”
Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.