COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus City School district chose a familiar face as its next superintendent, Dr. Angela Chapman.
After serving as the interim superintendent for Columbus City Schools the past few months, Angela Chapman was unanimously voted to take on the role permanently. Her selection has been received well by the Columbus community.
“I think that she’s a great communicator, and she listens well,” said Nana Watson, who serves as the President of the NAACP Columbus branch. “I think her ability to embrace differences, her ability to have hard conversations, she’s fearless.”
While Watson was pleased with the Board’s selection, she has continued to question how tax dollars were used in the search process. She’s criticized the Board for its lack of transparency over the last few months. A board spokesperson told Spectrum News that it was given $250,000 to use on the search and that board members were in charge of how to allocate that money.
At Tuesday night’s board meeting, they expressed their support for Chapman speaking to her familiarity with the district, her leadership skills and her experience as a teacher.
The 2022-2023 school year started with teachers on strike because of building conditions, wages and benefits. John Coneglio serves as the President of the Columbus Education Association and said he was pleased with the board’s decision and looks forward to working with Chapman.
“She has a lot of challenges that, you know, the Columbus Education Association is willing to help with,” said Coneglio. “You know, one of the things is, you know, just academics moving the academic programs forward. Also, I think operations is going to be a big challenge because we know we have a lot of operations issues. She has her plate full, but I think she’s up to the task.”
Dozens of parents and students were at Tuesday’s board meeting. Anesha Britford was there with her son, Damarion Lewis. Lewis had the chance to speak in front of the Board to propose changes he would like to see to his school and hoped the new superintendent was listening.
“I want the superintendent to focus on education, having more of a like, original summer school where students go there to learn their classes and stuff,” said Lewis.
As Damarion heads into high school, his mom Anesha says she wants the district to shape him into the best student he can be.
“Leadership skills, social skills and just looking forward to the journey,” said Britford.
Members of the Board will work with Chapman on a contract that they have to vote on before moving forward in the transition process.
