Marysville School District officials knew four years ago they would be engaged in a principal search in 2018.
In 2014, when Kathy McKinniss was installed as the first principal of Marysville’s new Early College High School (ECHS), her plan was to stay at the job only until the initial class graduated, according to district superintendent Diane Mankins. The first class of freshmen is now finishing its senior year and Marysville is searching for McKinniss’ replacement.
The district has currently whittled the original batch of applicants down to the final three — all of whom have local ties.
Mankins said district officials are hoping to fill the position quickly as students, parents and staff are experiencing some “angst thinking about Kathy not being there.”
Thursday night, Mankins told Marysville Board of Education members that she hoped to have a replacement ready for approval at the group’s March meeting.
Late in 2017 the district posted the open position to potential applicants within the district and to external agencies such as the Ohio Department of Education. Mankins said the district also contacted some potential applicants directly to inform them of the open position.
Initially, 27 individuals applied for the position. Mankins said a review of resumes and qualifications trimmed that number to about 20. From there, district officials selected six candidates for a first round of interviews. One person withdrew their name from consideration for the position and the other five individuals were interviewed Friday.
Those discussions led to three finalists being selected — Jodi Robertson, Ken Chaffin and Erica O’Keefe.
Robertson is a 10-year educator at Marysville and has worked at ECHS since it opened.
Chaffin is a Marysville graduate and is a former local teacher and basketball coach. He is currently the principal at Grandview High School in Columbus.
O’Keefe is a current assistant principal at Hilliard Davidson and is a Marysville resident.
Chaffin and O’Keefe currently have the appropriate certification to hold a principal’s position and Robertson should be credentialed by May.
On Monday, the three finalists will tour the school, then be interviewed by three separate groups representing students, staff members and parents and community members. Each group will have eight to 10 members.
The groups will then come together with district administrators to give input on the candidates. The administrative team will then make the final selection.
The board also learned from Mankins that the closing of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) online charter school has impacted 34 local students.
ECOT shut down in January amid a fight with the state over funding, leaving about 12,000 needing a new source of instruction in the middle of the school year.
Mankins said only six of the former ECOT students have enrolled at Marysville while 12 of them have found other online sources for instruction. She said the district is trying to track down the remaining students to learn their schooling plans, but finding them is proving difficult, as the district does not have up-to-date contact information.
-In other business, the board:
-Heard an update from member Dick Smith on his recent trip to Washington D.C. for a National School Board Association conference.
-Heard a presentation from Creekview Intermediate School Principal Tim Kannally on the changing configuration of classrooms and instruction in his building in the past several years.
-Approved the purchase of three new school buses for the district.
-Approved a resolution of use the services of the Business Advisor Council of the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio.
-Learned that the high school special education department has received a $50,000 grant to help support its operation of the high school store and coffee shop.