Graham could become CEO

Lorain City Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Graham is seeking to become chief executive officer of the district. That tells us he wants to complete the job he started when he arrived here in August 2015.

Graham told The Morning Journal he applied for the position posted June 15 online on behalf of the Lorain Academic Distress Commission.

Atlantic Research Partners, a nationwide executive search firm based in Chicago posted the job of the CEO position in Lorain, as well as a high school principal position in Youngstown and a director of schools position in Tennessee.

Applicants must complete applications by 11:59 p.m. July 10, with interviews to follow in mid-to-late July.

A tentative selection date is July 25, a few weeks before the academic year begins.

The Lorain Academic Distress Commission hired Atlantic on June 5 to conduct a nationwide search for an administrator capable of quickly improving academics in the district.

The CEO will hold the powers of a superintendent and most of the powers of a school board.

The CEO will hold the authority to reconstitute schools, which means changing the mission of the schools or focus of curriculum.

But it also could mean replacing principals, administrators and a majority of teachers and other staff.

And the CEO could contract with a nonprofit or for-profit entity to manage the operations of a school.

Also, a school could be reopened as a community school, or as a science, technology, engineering and mathematics school, or be closed permanently.

The CEO could implement innovative education programs with money coming from a separate fund to support education programs.

If some Lorainites have their way, Atlantic Research Partners may not have far to look for the CEO.

Graham has received the backing of the city of Lorain’s top elected official, Mayor Chase Ritenauer, who says he approves of Graham’s handling of Lorain Schools.

Ritenauer said, “My views have not been altered since my State of the City. So, yes, still on board with his leadership.” The mayor’s address was in February.

Atlantic Research Partners also hosted community information gathering sessions to hear from residents and school district officials June 19-20 at Lorain High School about the CEO search.

Jim Hager of Las Vegas, who is president of Atlantic Research Partners, said there were two major questions he asked in the focus groups: What qualities should a CEO possess? If the CEO were starting on the first day, what would you want to tell him or her is the most important issue the district faces?

Three people attended one of the first focus groups of teachers and staff of elementary schools June 19. About an hour later, four people attended another focus group of district office staff.

But a group of leadership of employee associations in another room boasted a heftier crowd.

Lisa Amador, an academic coach at Palm Elementary School, who joined the district two years ago, said Lorain Schools needs a CEO who believes in the teachers because some of them are tired and need to be lifted up.

Lavalley Richey, a teacher at Stevan Dohanos Elementary School, has taught in the district for 29 years.

She said she would like to turn the clock back to 1988 when she started. Now all the teachers do is test students, she said.

Cristina Velez, a special education teacher who next year will teach second-grade at Toni Morrison Elementary, said the CEO should be someone who has taught in the classroom in an urban district, someone who can relate.

In a later focus group, Hager told residents that a Tacoma, Wash., school district had a similar demographic to Lorain Schools and was one of the lowest performing districts in the country.

Hager said the superintendent and deputy superintendent in four our five years literally turned it around to one of the highest performing districts.

Lorain Academic Distress Commission Chair Anthony Richardson pointed out the Lorain district has had five superintendents in the last seven years, and every time there is a new superintendent, there is a new model.

We agree with Richardson about the consistency problem.

The district doesn’t need someone who is padding his or her resume, preparing for the next job.

Richardson says it best: “What we don’t need is someone who is going to come in and do a fly over and be gone.”

Some say the CEO should be an outsider. Others say the CEO needs to come from within.

The bottom line is Graham has done a good job of making inroads in the district. He has fresh ideas and he’s charismatic. Most of all, he’s qualified. Graham would like to finish what he started.

He has earned that right.