After a nearly four-hour closed door meeting Thursday evening, the Columbus City Schools board unanimously voted to offer the district’s top spot to Talisa Dixon.
Dixon, currently the superintendent of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights, has history with CCS. She was an administrator with the district for nine years, served as principal and assistant principal at Brookhaven High School, and principal at Columbus Alternative High School. She has also worked as a principal in Akron, and a school administrator in Saginaw, Michigan.
Dixon was one of three finalists for the position announced last Friday. Dixon, Fairfax County Virginia Public Schools Region 3 assistant superintendent Terry Dade, and Prince Georges County Maryland Public Schools elementary instructor Ava Tasker Mitchell were all part of a final round of interviews this week that included meetings with the board, with district representatives, and in public forums.
Pending the results of a background check, the district will begin contract negotiations. Interim superintendent John Stanford received a base salary of $158,000 last year according to the district website. Dixon’s salary in the significantly smaller suburban Cleveland district is $165,000.
