Schools CEO appointment heating up

It’s been a tumultuous week for the Lorain School District and the clashes between the Lorain School Board and the Lorain Academic Distress Commission did not come as a surprise.

Tension between the two groups started a few weeks ago when Tony Richardson, chairman of the Lorain Academic Distress Commission, asked the school district to not hire any administrators until a CEO was hired.

But the delicate situation between the two groups became even more fragile July 17 during a joint public meeting at Lorain High School.

The distress commission announced five CEO finalists and Lorain Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Graham did not make the cut despite having support from the school board and many in the community.

The relationship between the groups become stickier a day later when then-Lorain School Board Vice President Tony Dimacchia disappointed in the five finalists asked the Lorain Academic Distress Commission to consider Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer as CEO of the district although he did not apply for the position.

Dimacchia said he has lost sleep over the selection process where search firm Atlantic Research Partners, based in Chicago, selected the five finalists without much input by the Lorain Academic Distress Commission.

He said he isn’t trying to stir up trouble, and we have no reason not to believe him, but he indicated he’s an elected official and has a duty to serve the interest of the public.

But the Lorain Academic Distress Commission has control over the process, and Dimacchia is not satisfied with it or the five finalists for CEO.

The five candidates, all African Americans, are Vilicia Cade; David Hardy, James Henderson, Lloyd Martin and Eric Thomas.

The public had a chance to meet the applicants July 18 at Lorain High School.

A CEO must be appointed by July 25.

Dimacchia continued his attacks on the process during an interview with Morning Journal reporter Carol Harper.

He said he was naive to believe that there would be a legitimate process to find the right candidate for the most important position in the history of Lorain City Schools.

Jim Hager, president of Atlantic Research Partners, however, rightfully defended his firm’s process of selecting the five finalists.

In a July 20 email to The Morning Journal, Hager indicated that attempts to cast doubt on a credible, thorough, professional process are made without full regard for the facts or context.

Hager said his firm carried out the duties to recruit strong candidates for CEO.

He also said several of the finalists were known to his firm because of their reputations or because they had previously applied for positions the firm was recruiting.

Hager said, “We are confident that the five finalists we have recommended to the Commission presented the strongest cases to be the CEO of the Lorain City School District.”

Yet during the July 20 special Lorain School Board meeting, its members didn’t back down from wanting the process to restart.

Also, there was a leadership change. Dimacchia became president replacing Tim Williams, and Mark Ballard was installed as vice president.

After an executive session, the school board passed a resolution asking the Lorain Academic Distress Commission to suspend the search for the CEO, retain all of the search information, fire the search firm, ask Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria for an extension, and start a new search process.

During the meeting, Dimacchia appointed Steve Cawthon as the teacher representing the district on the commission to replace Dorinda Hall. Cawthon was as an alternate on the commission.

Williams cited Hall as a great teacher, but the board needed someone else with a different skill set in the distress commission deliberation room .

Whoever the Lorain Academic Distress Commission selects as the CEO will face many challenges.

Forging relationships is going to be crucial in the success of the district.

Partnerships that have been created must continue and collaborations have to be formed.

It’s going to take many, many resources to turn the school district around.

Whatever happens, the community must rally behind the CEO who we hope will demand that the district reaches academic excellence.

Dimacchia is well within his rights to try to right what he perceives as a wrong.

But after all of his options have been exhausted, whether or not he gets what he wants, we’re confident he still has educating the children as his No. 1 goal.