Friday, May 10, 2002
The longtime principal has worked in the district about 18 years.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- Besides its career center, Lordstown School District is losing its high school principal to the Trumbull Career and Technical Center.
TCTC's board Thursday hired Larry Crawford as an academic supervisor. Wayne McClain, TCTC interim superintendent, said Crawford will earn $64,072 annually. The contract is for two years.
"There comes a time in everyone's life when they need to turn the page and need to move into a new chapter," Crawford, who has worked as Lordstown principal for about 18 years, said this morning.
He said it was a difficult decision.
"I've enjoyed my time here tremendously," Crawford said. "I've had the privilege of working with fantastic kids and an excellent teaching staff."
Crawford will work with teacher evaluations and developing educational programs.
"We did everything we could to keep him," said Lordstown Superintendent Ray Getz. "TCTC saw an ideal candidate for an ideal situation. They want to do some things academically that Larry is ideally suited for."
Brought in speakers
Crawford is known for bringing various speakers to talk to students, including a friend of former President Clinton's who is credited with getting Monica Lewinsky her job as a White House intern, as well as adventurers who have sailed around the world and a man who was paralyzed in a drunken driving accident.
"Larry is almost universally supported and that's unusual for a high school principal, especially after 18 years," Getz said. "They recognize that he's academically centered and really student-centered. That's the most important thing."
Getz said a decision of how to fill the post hasn't been made. He has been doubling this year as superintendent and elementary high school principal. He'll still serve in a dual role next year, but the second position may shift from elementary to high school principal, he said.
"Am I going to fill the shoes of Larry Crawford? Not on my best day," Getz said.
Getz said the academic supervisor post fits Crawford's talents.
"It's an ideal situation for him as a communicator, a motivator and, really, a promoter of academics," he said.
Crawford said that McClain hired him in 1979 for his first administrator position. McClain was Maplewood superintendent and Crawford was a teacher at Warren G. Harding High School when the assistant principal position at Maplewood High School opened up.
"A lot of people had their hands up for that position and he picked me," Crawford said of McClain. "It was a good relationship and I look forward to working with him again."
Lease agreement
The TCTC board also approved a lease agreement for the use of Lordstown's Gordon D. James Career Center building. TCTC will pay $705,254 over four years, beginning with $153,316 July 1.
The James center closes at the end of this school year after the five-school compact that comprised it dissolves.
Four of the school districts in the compact -- Niles, Lordstown, Weathersfield and McDonald -- are sending their students to TCTC for career and technical education next year.
The fifth district, Howland, will send its student to the career center in Ashtabula County.
TCTC plans to use the James center for adult vocation classes.