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Austintown Exemplary award reflects exceptional staff
By AMANDA TONOLI
AUSTINTOWN
Buckeye Association of School Administrators recognized Austintown School District’s exceptional work with the Exemplary Leadership Award for 2015.
Superintendent Vince Colaluca will be presented the award at the rescheduled board of education meeting Tuesday.
Board member Ken Jakubec said Colaluca’s leadership skills and attitude are what landed this award.
“He is and always has been very organized, on top of everything, and he follows the rules and doesn’t deviate from that,” Jakubec said.
Recently, Colaluca had to fire a bus driver who used sick days inappropriately. He said despite trying to work with her, she wouldn’t stop abusing the rules and he had to make the choice, despite the shortage of bus drivers, to let her go. Colaluca said he had to stay firm in his decision to not let employees break the rules, no matter what.
“It is always great to see people receive awards like this, especially for exemplary service with the youth of Austintown,” said Trustee Jim Davis.
In dealing with the youths, Davis said Colaluca is contributing to building future leaders of the Austintown community.
Colaluca said he sees the award not necessarily as a feat for himself, but as one for the hard work of his staff.
“Any type of award like this is a reflection of what a great staff you have and the hard work everyone does,” Colaluca said.
Jakubec said Colaluca has been able to stretch the money the district has to the thinnest and move the schools in the right direction.
“We are an aggressive district with carrying policies forward. We’ve taken risks, and the hard work pays off,” Colaluca said.
Some risks Colaluca mentioned were the start of the online school, the growing STEM programs and the progressing move from textbook to online materials – noting that would not be possible without the teachers being on board in pushing forward with what is best for the students.
Colaluca said moving forward, he hopes to complete moving to the one-on-one initiative with Google Chromebooks, an initiative to have one Chromebook per student in the district.
“This is just another shining example of what people in this community can do,” Davis said.