Cincinnati superintendent plans to retire

CINCINNATI (AP) — The school year now under way in Cincinnati will be the last for city schools Superintendent Rosa Blackwell.

She announced Monday that she will retire next July when her three-year contract ends.

Blackwell, 59, has led the district to improved academic performance, but with teacher layoffs and budget cuts amid shrinking enrollment. Her relationship with the school board has become strained.

She became interim superintendent after her predecessor, Alton Frailey, resigned in December 2004, and was appointed to the job in April 2005.

“Our work has been focused on improving teaching and learning, and I’m hopeful because we have seen three years in the Continuous Improvement rating, our students are bright and capable, and we have a dedicated work force,” she said. “So we’ve done some good things, and my contract is up.”

Blackwell, an educator for three decades, is the wife of Ken Blackwell, the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Ohio governor last year.