Evaluation of superintendent wasn’t done

The board will take up the evaluation process again in October.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The city school board never got around to completing a job performance evaluation for Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, during the school year ended June 30.

The annual evaluation is to be completed each November but got delayed last fall because of other issues facing the school district, according to the Rev. Michael Write, board president.

Youngstown’s financial crisis, contract negotiations and school construction were factors that overshadowed the evaluation, he said.

Webb’s three-year contract was set to expire June 30, but because the school board hadn’t completed her evaluation by March, it automatically rolled over for another one-year period.

Her salary was $122,000 last year. There hasn’t been any public discussion about changing that number this year.

Some school board members were upset that the evaluation wasn’t done, suggesting it should have been a priority despite other issues facing the district.

Here’s the procedure

In the process, each board member completes an individual evaluation form and then the board meets as a unit to gather a consensus before presenting its findings to the superintendent, who then is given an opportunity to respond.

Kathryn Hawks Haney, chairwoman of the board’s personnel committee last year, said she didn’t get the last board member’s evaluation form until March.

Jamael Tito Brown, who became chairman of the personnel committee, said in March that he hoped to be able to expedite the evaluation process.

However, the evaluation wasn’t completed, and Brown said last week that the board has agreed it wouldn’t be productive to do an evaluation at this point in the new school year.

He said the superintendent was informed that the board will work on an evaluation this fall.

Evaluation forms will be handed out to each board member Oct. 9 and must be returned by Oct. 23, Brown said.

At that point, the board will schedule a meeting to review the findings before preparing a consensus report and meeting with Webb.

There has been no public indication from any board member about any dissatisfaction with Webb’s performance.

“We’re looking to see how we can keep her,” Brown said.

gwin@vindy.com