Columbus City Schools Interim Superintendent Angela Chapman can remove the "interim" moniker from her title
After several rounds of interviews, it came down to three candidates; Brian McDonald, Pasadena Unified School District superintendent and Minneapolis Public Schools Associate Superintendent George Eric Thomas, and Chapman, who came to the district in 2019, and was appointed interim Superintendent at the beginning of this year.
The decision to select Chapman was unanimous, although board members found much to admire in the other candidates. Board President Jennifer Adair says Thomas understood the critical component of collective impact, and McDonald had extensive experience as superintendent....
"And Dr. Chapman, well; she's just one of us. And she gets it. And for me, that's what always had me. Dr. Chapman understands where we need to go. And she understand the community, and she listens."
Chapman had served as the chief of transformation and leadership for Columbus City Schools. She has also worked as an administrator in Massillon City Schools, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District.
Board member Tina Pierce acknowledged that the cost of the search process raised eyebrows and ire in some quarters. The board authorized paying a total of $250,000 to be handled by the Taft Stettinius & Hollister law firm. The board also contracted with Columbus marketing firm Fahlgren Mortine and Iowa-based Ray & Associates, which specializes in school executive leadership searches, prescreened the applicants before forwarding them to the board.
NAACP Columbus chapter President Nana Watson hammered the board throughout the search process to justify the costs and the choice of firms, and issued a notice of "no confidence" in the search, for the district's lack of transparency. On Monday, the school board rejected an records request from the Columbus NAACP chapter to provide details of the search process.
Now that Chapman has been selected the In August, negotiations begin on compensation. For comparison outgoing superintendent Talisa Dixon signed a three-year contract in august with $262,500 annual base pay, contributions to the state pension fund paid in full, and an over $10,000 annual tech and transportation budget.
