Thursday, May 23, 2019
AUSTINTOWN
Austintown Local Schools Superintendent Vincent Colaluca plans to step down at the end of the month after 10 years of heading the district.
The district announced Colaluca’s retirement Wednesday afternoon. Though a news release lists his many accomplishments – such as creating new STEM programs and curriculum and providing Google Chromebooks to each student – Colaluca said most memorable are the students.
“The No. 1 thing, the reason I went into education is the kids,” he said Wednesday, while filling out state retirement paperwork. “We have great students who have a passion for life and great families.
“One of the things I did when I first became superintendent – I shook every graduate’s hand when they came down the line. That’s the gratification of being superintendent is you know you’re putting great citizens out in the world.”
The district’s contract with Colaluca, who makes $120,814 a year, was set to expire at the end of the next school year. School board President Don Sherwood said he first approached the board about two months ago to discuss his resignation.
The board accepted the resignation during a special meeting Wednesday, he said.
Colaluca, 51, said a recent change to the state teacher retirement system made the decision a smart one. He added he’s “pretty fortunate” to retire at his age. He learned years spent coaching sports at public schools during his studies at Youngstown State University gave him the public sector years needed to qualify for retirement.
“All the great things we’ve done in Austintown we’re proud of,” he said. “We’ve left Austintown in a great place, and we’ll be cheerleaders forever now.”
He didn’t preclude himself from working in the public sector in the future, but said he doesn’t have any immediate plans.
Sherwood said the district likely will raise up an interim superintendent from within the district while administrators “uncover the next district’s leader.” Administrators plan to advertise the job June 1, the day after Colaluca is set to depart, he said. Colaluca is able to rescind his resignation until it takes effect May 31.
He said the board has yet to decide whether it will conduct the search or hire a committee to do that work.
“I think [Colaluca’s] strength far and away was the technology-driven things we now see commonplace here,” Sherwood said. “We were doing those things so far ahead of other districts. In my time there, he’s always been embracing technology.”
Colaluca earned the Excellent with Distinction achievement on the district’s school report card as well as the Momentum Award from the Ohio Department of Education, according to a release from the district.
He also secured a $500,000 federal grant for the Austintown Falcon Mobile Medical Unit and pushed for investment of $350,000 into the Fitch Auditorium and $2.3 million into the Fitch Athletic Complex, according to the district.
“Mr. Colaluca has represented the Austintown community and taxpayers with integrity and transparency. He has led the district in very tough financial times,” reads the district’s release. “The district has not received any new money for operations from the Austintown community since 1996, but through careful staffing and business decisions to generate revenue, academic programs have increased and modest cost-of-living increases have been provided for our staff.
“Mr. Colaluca has been a good steward of the Austintown community tax dollars.”