Investigative notes from the State Auditor's office show Columbus City Schools officials interviewed in secret four semi- finalists in the recently scrubbed search for a new superintendent.
They include Alesia Gillison, the district's chief academic officer who was suspended for her role in the district's attendance data rigging scandal. The others interviewed by the Board of Education were Milwaukee Schools Superintendent Darienne Driver; Princeton, Ohio Schools Superintendent Thomas Tucker; and Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools Superintendent Talisa Dixon. The board failed to release their names when it issued its list of 19 semi-finalist candidates. The search was called off after Auditor David Yost said it may have violated open meetings laws. Meanwhile, the Ohio Department of Education has closed its probe of the data scandal. 53 employees were punished.