Trotwood-Madison City Schools is searching for a new district superintendent. Yesterday, officials held sessions with administrators, high school students, teachers, and community members as part of the district’s search.
Frank DePalma with the Montgomery County Educational Service Center is assisting in the search. He said the school board is interested in hearing from a variety of community stakeholders.
“The community in general, parents, staff members, students, they all have a stake in what is going on in the Trotwood schools,” he said.
DePalma said one thing the district is looking for is a superintendent who can help improve test scores. The district narrowly avoided a state takeover in 2018, and received an overall district grade of D on its latest Ohio School Report Card.
After a full day of meetings yesterday, the school board held an evening public forum to hear residents’ input on the selection process.
Trotwood resident Ollie Scott said the next superintendent should be able to work with a diverse group of people.
“Trotwood is made up of a lot of different nationalities and we have a big minority population. We want someone to come in to be able to be sensitive to those issues,” she said.
Another issue that came up at the forum was the turnover rate for superintendents. Trotwood-Madison’s last superintendent, Tyrone Olverson, resigned after less than a year and a half.
Chris Mohr of K-12 Business Consulting said shorter tenures are not necessarily unusual across the state of Ohio.
“It’s a difficult job. There’s just a lot of pressure on the superintendent’s role and responsibilities,” he said.
The district is taking applications until February 7. The plan is to have the new superintendent start by August 1. The school district has also created a questionnaire for community feedback on the superintendent search. It can be found on the Trotwood-Madison City Schools website.
