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MIDDLETOWN SCHOOLS superintendent search

Tough challenges, expectations await new schools leader

Residents get chance to rate finalists during a ‘Meet the Candidates’ program on Jan. 7.

3 finalists vie for Middletown superintendent post

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By Kevin Aldridge, Ryan Gauthier and Jessica Heffner, Staff Writers Updated 7:57 AM Thursday, December 17, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — Let the vetting begin.

Now that the Middletown Board of Education has revealed the three finalists vying to be the district’s next superintendent, the community and school officials will engage in an intense examination of the candidates’ backgrounds, credentials and visions during the next several weeks.

That process began almost immediately after Robert Sommers,’ Lloyd Martin’s and Greg Rasmussen’s names were unveiled Wednesday, Dec. 16, with some residents Google-ing the finalists and e-mailing the Journal with their findings. And it could reach a crescendo when residents get a chance to rate the finalists themselves during a “Meet the Candidates” night Jan. 7 at Middletown High School.

Longtime political observer Knight Goodman said the amount of scrutiny given to the finalists will depend on the way they are presented by the school board and the news media.

He said the finalists’ image will contribute to how they are received by the community, as well as how well they react with parents, teachers and administrators.

“I really hope the board brings the community in. I’d like to see key people, and not-so-key people, of the community talk to these people,” Goodman said.

Board defends process

School board members defended their decision Wednesday to play the selection process close-to-the-vest until now. The district, its attorney and consultant denied repeated public records requests from the Journal seeking candidate applications, resumes and other documents pertaining to the search.

In a letter addressed to the Journal and “the entire community of Middletown,” board members stressed their belief that the process they followed fully complied with “both the spirit and the letter of the law.” The board noted that the Ohio Supreme Court has deemed the process it followed as “an appropriate process to select a superintendent.”

We “used a process that encourages applicants to apply without fear of negative consequences that may follow the announcement that they were seeking a new job,” the board stated in its letter. “A different process — one that identifies every applicant for the position — unfairly discourages many qualified candidates from applying and limits the candidate pool.”

The board also explained why community members weren’t more involved in the weeding of 60-plus applicants down to three finalists.

“Requiring every applicant to interview with the community would have been unduly time-consuming. The board did not feel that it was either necessary or appropriate to burden the community with scheduling and interviewing the many candidates.”

Instead the district relied on its consultant, Carney, Sandoe & Associates, to do initial screens of all applicants. The consultant whittled down the candidates to seven, who were interviewed by the board this past Friday and Saturday in Middletown.

Those seven were then narrowed to three; however, the board did not elaborate on how it arrived at its selection nor on what criteria was used. School board President Greg Tyus declined to discuss the process beyond what was released in the board’s letter.

Who the finalists are

Tough challenges and high expectations will greet whoever is chosen to lead Middletown’s 7,000-student district. Among the issues to be addressed are figuring out how to recoup $18 million from two tax levies that expire next year and raising the achievement level from “continuous improvement” in a district where 70 percent of students are on free and reduced lunches.

While much will be learned about these three finalists over the coming weeks, here is what is now known:

• Robert D. Sommers, CEO of Butler Technology Career and Development Schools, is the only candidate from the district’s nationwide search to emerge from the region.

Sommers, who lives in Hamilton and rents out a home in Middletown, has been leading Butler Tech since 2001. The Fairfield Twp.-based career and technical center serves about 26,000 high school and adult students and roughly 5,000 full-time equivalent students.

According to an annual report put out by Butler Tech, the school ranked 41 out of 49 schools in Ohio for student performance in 2001. Since Sommers took over the helm that same year, the school has recovered, and has ranked No.1 for student performance for two consecutive years.

Sommers said that while he has a “great job” at Butler Tech, he described Middletown as “a great cause.”

“I am very interested in Middletown as a high potential district. Its opportunities and challenges seem to fit with the talents I have brought to my previous work, Sommers said. “It is a great opportunity to serve a great community that really deserves the highest quality school district possible, and I think I can contribute to that cause.”

Sommers described the challenges facing Middletown as similar to those of Butler Tech when he became superintendent there. With a low report card grade and dropping enrollment, he said he is confident that the district can be turned around and the “students and staff have a lot of talent and I would put that to work.”

Sommers was one of three semi-finalists for Springfield City Schools’ superintendent position in April.

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I am from Mansfield. I can only say your board must have gave the criteria for a superintendent as someone who can get a levy passed. He has failed as a leader of Mansfield. Discipline does not exist. No communication with the teaching staff or community (after passage of the levy). Wasteful spending of funds to hire his cronies. Has been successful in a racial divide in the schools and community. He is scum. Your board must hate you Middletown.

Mansfield
10:23 PM, 12/20/2009

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You are wrong if you think we don't have a report card at Butler Tech. We have standards that need to be met as well AND unlike our home school counterparts have about a 98% graduation rate. BT does get money from a huge tax base and hasn't had to have a levey since the mid 80's. All of these candidates are arrogant, they wouldn't be superintendents unless they were. The question is "Which one knows how to handle the problems of an urban school district and which one has the guts to be tough?"

Proactive
3:55 PM, 12/18/2009

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http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com...

MIDDLETOWN.. STUDENTS.. STAFF.. PARENTS..BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS:

YOU NEED READ THE COMMENTS AND WHAT MANSFIELD HAS TO SAY ABOUT DR.MARTIN

HE SOUNDS LIKE ANOTHER DR. PRICE!!AND WE DON'T NEED OR WANT ANOTHER PRICE IN OUR DISTRICT!!
DO WE ??

Middie
2:13 PM, 12/18/2009

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All4Education..Spanish immersion school only has about 40 kids. This program is costing almost $30,000 per student to a district that is struggling financially. Yes he passed they levies, by lying his toosh off. He spent the money faster than he got it. The test score was above 80 when he got there, now they are 78 or so....they went drastically down when he got there and only can up because of a High School principal who eventually left the school because of the harassment from this guy.

David
9:37 AM, 12/18/2009

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Bob Sommers is one of the arrogant people anywhere. Vocational schools get huge amounts of school funding from Ohio but no actual report card, and Sommers has an evangelist-like grip on people that is strange. But Tech's student achievement scores are rolled into their home district's report cards. Across Butler County school superintendents and high school principals continually talk about the slick publicity machine at But Tech. Beware the cool aide Middletown!

Don't Drink the Coolaide
7:42 PM, 12/17/2009

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