Springboro superintendent placed on leave
Hired in 2016, Schroer had been a candidate for top job in Dayton.
Springboro SPRINGBORO — schools superintendent Dan Schroer was placed on paid administrative leave on Friday, a little over eight months after the district’s board gave him a raise and added an annuity to his compensation package.
The Springboro school board voted unanimously to place Schroer on leave but did not offer any explanation of why at an early-morning special meeting.
The board voted to appoint Carrie Hester, assistant superintendent of district operations, as acting superintendent.
The votes came after the school board met for more than 1 hour, 45 minutes, in executive session.
Board President Jamie Belanger met with staff to discuss the changes.
Schroer did not attend the meeting Friday morning and couldn’t be reached afterward. His contact information was redacted from records obtained by this newspaper through a public-records request.
Schroer, previously superintendent in the Margaretta school district near Sandusky, was also a candidate for the superintendent position with Dayton Public Schools in June 2016. He signed his first contract with the Springboro district in July 2016.
The Springboro district educates 6,000 students at six schools. The 2019 operating budget is more than $54 million.
In December, the Spring- boro board gave him — and Treasurer Terrah Floyd — a 4.8% raise and a $10,000 annuity.
Board Member Lisa Babb was the lone vote against the changes and Schroer’s new three-year contract in July.
To end the contract so o ner, except d ue to “retirement, disability, resignation or death,” Schroer and the board could reach “mutual agreement.”
There are also terms for removal for breach or “upon material failure of the Superintendent to perform duties”of the contract or for reasons in state law.
The contract also enti- tles the board to end the contract by paying Schroer one year’s salary, $147,084 “at any time without show- ing cause.”
“If early termination is effectuated in this manner, the Superintendent be deemed to have waived all termination proceed- ings under Ohio law and to have released any and all claims,” according to the contract.
Other than licenses, there were no other documents from 2019 in Schroer’s personnel file.
Schroer was one of the local school officials supporting the hiring of John Austin Hopkins, the former Springboro gym teacher facing 36 charges of gross sexual imposition alleging he sexually abused 28 1st grade girls during class. Hopkins is scheduled to return to court next week.
After the votes, Babb, Belanger and the other board members referred questions to Scott Marshall, communications coordinator for the district.
“At this point we’re not saying anything more,” Marshall said in response to questions about why there was no explanation or more current documentation in Schroer’s personnel file.