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Seventeen apply for Austintown top job
New superintendent may be chosen soon
AUSTINTOWN
Nearly half of the educators looking to fill Austintown schools’ now-open superintendent role currently work in the Mahoning Valley.
Former superintendent Vince Colaluca, 51, retired early May 31. District administrators have since received superintendent applications from 17 people, including Tim Kelty, current principal of Austintown Fitch High School – the only current district employee to apply – and superintendents from West Branch Local Schools, Timothy Saxton; Girard City Schools, David Cappuzzello; and Lowellville School District, Eugene Thomas.
Two with ties to Youngs-town City Schools also applied: former administrator Carol Staten and Timothy Freeman, current chief of culture and climate.
Former Austintown Superintendent Stan Watson has served in the interim since Colaluca’s departure.
The application window closed Friday. School board President Don Sherwood said though school board members considered hiring a committee to head the superintendent search, the district chose to do the hiring process in-house.
Some of the applicants are not properly credentialed for the district’s top job and also applied for other open district positions, said Treasurer Ryan Ghizzoni. Others applied specifically for the superintendent job.
Ghizzoni himself is also departing the district July 1, making his one of many positions the district is working to fill before the 2019-20 school year. Spokeswoman Brittany Bueno said the treasurer search has already begun.
But Sherwood said the superintendent will be chosen first, possibly soon.
“We want to allow the next district superintendent to have an active hand in selecting those people,” he said.
Administrators are looking to slot the special education director position currently held by Becky Morris, who is set to resign Aug. 1.
Chris Berni, current district curriculum director, is expected to be shifted to director of pupil services, leaving a curriculum director position open.
“We’ve got a bunch of good applicants for that,” Sherwood said.
Berni’s role will be overseeing special education, and the proposed Austintown preschool program at the elementary school. Sherwood said the district is merely awaiting licensure approval for the program.
The district is also seeking a facility operations director, responsible for the district buildings’ appearance and maintenance.
The board during a Tuesday special meeting approved hiring Salvatore Maiorana as assistant principal at Fitch High School.
It’s Maiorana’s first time in the principal role, Bueno said. He’s earned Master’s degrees in educational technology from Cleveland State University and in administration from Ursuline College and was formerly an AP science teacher for Canfield Local Schools, she said.