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struthers Candidate for schools chief presents his case
By jeanne starmack
struthers
One of two candidates for Struthers schools superintendent went before a panel of community and school-district stakeholders Monday.
Timothy S. Kelty, who is an Austintown Fitch High School assistant principal, presented his case to eight people who represented the community’s and school district’s interests.
After his presentation, the stakeholders questioned him and gave feedback to Ron Iarussi, superintendent of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center, who will pass it on to the school board.
The same process will be repeated at 5 p.m. Thursday with the other candidate. He is Joseph Nohra, principal of the Mosaic School of Fine and Performing Arts in the Cleveland Heights- University Heights City School District.
The school board will announce its decision at its October meeting.
The chosen candidate will succeed Robert Rostan, who is retiring at the end of this year.
Rostan was superintendent at Struthers for four years.
Kelty, 45, lives in Canfield with his wife, Diane, and their three children.
In the Austintown Local School District, he also was Woodside Elementary School principal from 2010 to this year. He was an Austintown Fitch assistant principal from 2006 to 2010.
He said he was asked to take over at Woodside when its principal left.
While he was there, he said, reading and math scores rose. Woodside was named a School of Promise for this school year, he said.
Kelty characterized himself as a strong and experienced school leader.
He said there are similarities between Austintown and Struthers, with the same percentage of economically disadvantaged and special-needs students.
He said he would be empathetic and compassionate toward students and would be approachable in the community.
“You have to be approachable,” he said. “You have to engage the community and show you care.”
He also said he believes it is important to promote the district from a public- relations standpoint to keep students from leaving the district.
He said he would begin to campaign early for passage of a levy in 2016.
He said his management style is collaborative, and he believes in consulting with staff about the district’s needs.
He also said keeping up with technology is important.
“We have to embrace technology, or we’re failing to prepare kids for the future,” he said.