Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Romules Durant just got handed a very long to-do list.
The Toledo Board of Education on Tuesday finalized goals for Mr. Durant and Treasurer Ryan Stechschulte, wrapping up annual performance evaluations with unanimous votes of confidence in the district’s top two leaders.
The board wants Mr. Durant to launch a district report card this fall, continue to improve graduation rates, boost parent involvement, and develop initiatives that address gaps in student achievement, among other goals.
A board resolution described his commitment to the district as “unparalleled” and his work ethic as “invaluable.”
“We have done and accomplished so many positives this year, a lot of heavy lifting on all sides,” board member Stephanie Eichenberg said. “You’re out there all the time, all the time, and all the time.”
For the first time this fall, TPS will issue its own assessment of its performance.
The state releases report cards for each school district and assigns grades in six categories such as achievement on state tests, kindergarten through third grade literacy, and graduation rates.
On its most recent Ohio report card, TPS received an F in every category except the one that measures how much growth students made based on past performances. The district got an ‘A’ in that progress category.
Mr. Durant said the district’s report card will feature items not included by the state that illustrate the challenges TPS faces. A “school-readiness” grade will show the percent of kindergartners who need intensive intervention. The report also will highlight career-tech graduation and job placement rates.
TPS wants to give the community “a true reflection of the enrollment that we deal with and the population we deal with, and the success we are having with them,” Mr. Durant said. “People are out of touch in regards to what the schools are dealing with.”
He said he spoke to board members during his closed-door job review last week about recent successes, such as efforts to expand programming for gifted students and efforts to push graduation rates from 63.9 percent to 70.3 percent for the class of 2015.
The East Toledo native said he continues to enjoy leading his hometown district.
The superintendent and treasurer both received contract extensions in February. The term for Mr. Durant, who became superintendent in 2013 and makes $195,000 a year, runs through July 31, 2021.
Mr. Stechschulte, hired in 2015 and paid $150,000 a year, is under contract until at least July 31, 2020.
After last year’s evaluation, the board asked Mr. Durant to reinstate the practice of giving a “State of the District” address, which he did in October. The board wants him to do it again this October.
Last year’s goals also included strengthening student reading test results, which nudged up about a percentage point in 2015-16; and developing an interest-based bargaining method for contract talks.
The district and its teachers union last month approved a three-year pact that was negotiated using the technique, intended to build trust between the parties.
The board’s goals for Mr. Stechschulte include promoting “fiscal awareness” with the community and board as well as developing spending plans based on educational priorities.
In other business, the board:
● Approved a three-year contract with the 320-member Toledo Association of Administrative Personnel that includes roughly $5.4 million total in additional pay. That includes raises of 3 percent in the first year and 2 percent in the second and $1.5 million in additional pay beginning in January, 2020.
A newly hired high school principal would make $105,611 a year by the end of the contract. The board also approved comparable raises for nine cabinet-level, non-union administrators.
● Reduced or eliminated numerous student fees for the upcoming school year because of a district fund balance of $290,000, which allowed TPS to waive or lower dozens of fees for one year.
● Approved a balanced $386 million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.
First Published June 28, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
