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Austintown board's rehiring of Colaluca for 3 years sparks anger
AUSTINTOWN
Despite opposition from some members of the community, the school board approved a three-year contract renewal for Superintendent Vincent Colaluca.
The vote was 4-1, with board member Harold Porter casting the sole “no” vote Wednesday night.
Several district residents spoke out against the contract extension at the meeting.
“It disgusts me, and it infuriates me, to see the school board voting” to renew his contract, said Lori Stewart, who has two children in district schools. “Why? Why is Vince the best option for superintendent? I want to see your reasoning. If you were to look at the school district as a business, and Vince as the CEO, how has he not failed us?”
Mandy Richmond, who helped organize a petition against the contract renewal that garnered more than 2,000 signatures, told the board she could support a one-year extension.
“Our district has suffered a huge hit,” she said after the vote. “We asked them for a one-year contract several times. ... We keep telling them that they need to give time to change.”
The point of contention for many seems to center on the district’s open-enrollment policy.
“Some people blame me for open enrollment, and they need to understand the process of open enrollment,” said Colaluca, who was not superintendent at the time open enrollment began. “We moved into open enrollment to be financially sound.”
He said he spoke with the board during its work session Wednesday about capping the number of open-enrollment students per grade level.
District officials are in the process of reviewing the policy. The board has indicated it likely will move to reduce the number of open-enrollment students.
The board plans to host an informational meeting on the subject in late January. Also, the board is looking at creating a committee, which community members would be invited to join, to look at the open-enrollment policy.
Colaluca also apologized to the community and said his administration will work to make changes that address some of the concerns that have been raised.
“I do apologize to anyone that we have offended,” he said.
Some board members struck a conciliatory tone, with Dr. David Ritchie telling those in attendance: “I knew some of you were going to be unhappy tonight, but bear with us. We’re going to bring this thing around.”
Kathy Mock, board president, defended the contract renewal, saying, “Giving our superintendent a three-year contract allows for the board to have collaborative, continued improvement. And we base our work on a lot of different functions and responsibilities of the superintendent. An important thing is our superintendent’s evaluation cycle. We evaluate our superintendent twice during the year.”
To those who were disappointed by the vote, she added, “I hope they would understand that there is a lot of thought put into our decision. It does take a lot of time. And we did listen to a lot of their concerns.”
Porter struck a different tone, claiming that Colaluca runs his administration “like a dictator.”
“We totally destroyed our staff morale tonight,” he said. “They can’t stand him.”
Porter said he would have voted in favor of a one-year renewal.
Colaluca makes an annual salary of $111,189. His salary is based on an administrative salary schedule, rather than on terms negotiated with the board. Under his new contract, which runs from August 2017 through July 2020, Colaluca will receive a total raise of $2,300.
In other business, the board approved an agreement that will give safety bonuses to bus drivers. Drivers who meet the requirements can receive up to three $800 bonuses over a nine-month period.
The board approved an adjustment to the administrative salary schedule to reflect a 1 percent wage increase, retroactive to Aug. 1.
The board also OK’d a contract with Murphy Contracting Co. at a quote price of $45,900 for an emergency repair to some sanitary pipes at Fitch High School.