Search to begin for new leader of schools

Firm, ad agency to aid in superintendent process

The Columbus City Schools Board of Education will begin the process to find a new permanent superintendent after it voted Tuesday evening to select a search firm.

The board approved contracting with Ray & Associates, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based firm to assist the board in searching for a new leader after outgoing Superintendent Talisa Dixon announced in December that she would be retiring at the end of the academic year. The board also selected Columbus-based advertising agency Fahlgren Mortine to assist with public relations work during the superintendent search.

Board President Jennifer Adair said in an interview that the district had a “steady direction in our goals and guardrails.” She continued that the board was searching for a superintendent who can “effectuate that.” She said the district was still aiming to have a candidate by the 2023-24 school year.

“We’re really excited to start this process and begin a transparent, community search to find our next superintendent,” Adair said.

In January, the board engaged with the Columbus-based law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister to assist with identifying firms and serving as a liaison for the district. The board allocated $250,000 in the contract, which includes the cost of the search and communications firms.

Ray & Associates could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

During the meeting, Nana Watson, Columbus NAACP president, said she believed the board needs to be more transparent about the search process. And Carolyn Smith, retired chief internal auditor for the district, asked why the district was not using its own communications department.

“The money that they’re spending is taxpayer dollars and at what point do we hold them accountable for being good stewards of taxpayer money, and that time is now,” Watson said in an

interview before the meeting.

Adair said the district’s goal was to find the best person for the job.

“Maybe the best person is here, and maybe they’re somewhere else,” Adair said. “But it’s the board’s job to ensure that we are doing everything we can to ensure we have the strongest leader for our students.”

Angela Chapman took over as the district’s interim superintendent on Jan. 1. Dixon remains on with the district as an “educational administrator” to support and assist with the transition of leadership for the remainder of the current school year. The board’s goal is to have a new superintendent for the 2023-24 school year.

Chapman was brought into the administration by Dixon in 2019 and until recently had been the chief transformation and leadership officer in Columbus City Schools, the state’s largest district with about 47,000 students.

Chapman’s current salary is $157,874.68. In her former role, Chapman had oversight of many of the district’s administrators and academic leaders, such as principals and regional area superintendents. The office also oversees school improvement and school leader recruitment, selection and development.

Dixon was only four months into her second three-year contract when she announced in December that she will be retiring at the end of the school year, which ends June 30. At the time, Adair said that Dixon was not asked to leave her position.

Dixon’s current annual salary is $262,520, an 8.5% increase from her last contract, which was $242,000, according to the district.

Her contract also includes such benefits as life insurance, with coverage of two times her salary; a $750-permonth car allowance; a $150 monthly technology allowance; and 35 vacation days.

The last search for a superintendent in the district, which ended with the selection of Dixon, was mired in controversy as the board had to restart the process after then-state Auditor Dave

Yost effectively declared the first search void because the board was taking what amounted to votes on search candidates in closed meetings, a violation of the Ohio Open Meetings Act.

After Yost threatened legal action, three board members acknowledged in a resolution that they had participated in making board decisions in secret, including: winnowing the list of superintendent candidates during multiple closed-door meetings; adding new, secret candidates who were unknown to the public; interviewing eight candidates secretly, four of whom had never applied for the job; selecting finalists; and changing the finalist list when two secret candidates dropped out, The Dispatch previously reported.

Dixon was selected in September 2018 as one of three finalists in the second search process.

Adair, who was not a board member at the time, said that it was important that the board use a transparent and open process “that follows all the rules” in the search for the next superintendent.

@Colebehr_report Cbehrens@dispatch.com