COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s State Board of Education members are expected to discuss the next steps for hiring an interim superintendent of public instruction.
What You Need To Know
- That discussion is expected to happen in their meeting on Tuesday, April 11th
- SBOE President, Paul LaRue hopes they can have a name and an appointment at their next meeting in May
- The state board still needs to select a permanent superintendent, but there are concerns over proposed legislation and impact
Dr. Stephanie Siddens is the current interim superintendent. She announced last Friday to the board that she would step down. In a Tweet, she announced she’d be accepting an opportunity to serve as deputy superintendent of Upper Arlington School District, pending the board’s approval on April 11, with a tentative start date of July 1.
She’ll turn in her official resignation to the board after the Upper Arlington board meeting.
“I’m excited for Dr. Siddens. She’s done a great job leading the department in an interim period, which has gone on for essentially 18 months at this point,” said Paul LaRue, State Board of Education President.
Now that Siddens is expected to leave, the board will have two major tasks on hand. The first includes finding a replacement interim superintendent.
“The interim position… you know we’re gonna talk about the logistics. We haven’t talked about any people or anything like that yet. This meeting we’re gonna talk about the nuts and bolts and some of the steps moving forward,” LaRue said.
That will happen on Tuesday. Having a candidate selected and appointed by the end of their meeting in May is what LaRue believes would be ideal, but it’s not clear just yet if they can make that happen.
The second item the board still needs to address is finding a permanent superintendent.
“It’s one of those crazy kinds of chicken and egg things, which is, which comes first,” LaRue said. “We are more than ready to move ahead with that. At the same time< with all the changes that are being proposed, it wouldn’t be prudent for us to make that decision until we have a better sense of what is going to be the responsibilities of the next superintendent.”
With that being said, LaRue believes they are in a holding pattern.
