Schools chief will retire, be rehired

The superintendent will earn about two-thirds of his previous salary.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Following a school board request, schools Superintendent Dr. Robert Zorn will retire -- and be rehired for his position.
"The school board requested that all administrators who are eligible take advantage of that program," said Zorn, superintendent for 30 years. "The school board desires to save money, and I desire to continue working."
The board approved the agreement at a special school board meeting this week.
It means that Zorn will retire from the job where he earned about $96,000 during the 2005-06 school year and then be rehired at the salary of a top-scale teacher, about $66,000 for 2006-07.
His medical insurance will still be paid by the district, but a $6,320 annual life insurance payment by the district will be eliminated, and the amount the district pays into the State Teachers Retirement System will decrease based on the lower salary.
New plan
Those eligible for retire-rehire have 30 years' service. Zorn said there are two additional administrators who meet that eligibility though he is the first to sign up.
Last month, the school board approved an early-retirement incentive plan with the teachers union that district officials estimate will save $1.3 million over a three-year period if all 19 teachers who are eligible retire in June 2007.
"The board looked at the other comparable suburban districts -- Austintown, Boardman and Canfield just to name a few -- that are saving money with the retire-rehire and figured, why should other districts save that money and Poland not," Zorn said.
L. Britt Greene, school board president, said the change will save the district about $200,000 in salary, benefits and employer retirement contribution over the life of the contract while the district gets to retain Zorn and his experience.
"It's a win-win for the district," the board president said.
If Zorn would have left, Greene said the district may have had to hire a new superintendent and possibly an assistant superintendent and business manager to fill all of his duties.
Zorn says it's a way for him to repay the district that's employed him for more than 30 years, educated his two children and is educating his five grandchildren.
"I've been a teacher here, I've been a coach here, a principal and a superintendent," Zorn said. "This is a way for me to give back."
Other business
The board also accepted the resignation of Robert Rostan, principal at Poland Seminary High School, who is leaving to be superintendent of the Leetonia school district.
The board authorized Zorn to make a recommendation for someone to fill that role and that recommendation is expected at a special board meeting at 7 a.m. Friday at district offices.
The board also approved an agreement with the 84-member Ohio Association of Public School Employees 360 which includes cooks, clerical staff, bus drivers and custodians. The one-year pact, already approved by the union, mirrors the agreement passed for teachers last month with a 2.2 percent raise for the 2006-07 school year.
Zorn said that amounts of about a 32 cent raise for the employees.