MANSFIELD, Ohio — Brian Garverick received support from a variety of Mansfield leaders, and eventually his employer on Tuesday night.
The Mansfield City Schools superintendent obtained a four-year contract extension by a 3-1 vote of the Board of Education, with one member abstaining. The vote comes after a 2.7 job rating on his latest review that will keep him from a raise. That review was skewed significantly by the low ratings of two board members.
Yet it didn’t slow Garverick’s support in the community.
Michael Howard, President of the North End Community Improvement Collaborative, Mansfield Police Department Chief Ken Coontz, Richland County Sheriff Steve Sheldon, former district principal Doug Castle and other community members were each given four minutes to offer their praises. Many of them spoke for more than four minutes.
Once the meeting adjourned, Garverick said he was speechless.
“It’s moving,” he said. “I’m thankful that the board has allowed me to continue to work where I grew up and graduated from.”
Board members Monica Hubbard, Dina Davis and Renda Cline voted in favor of renewing the superintendent’s contract. Board member Chris Elswick gave a “no” vote and board member Cliff Crose was absent. In a phone interview on Tuesday, Crose said he would have voted “no” for an extension to the superintendent’s contract. He said Garverick “doesn’t face the problem whenever there is a problem.”
“Why should I come when they have a majority anyway? I’m done,” said Crose, who lost his bid for re-election of his board membership.
Elswick said he had issues with Garverick’s decision making in certain personnel matters and that he does not feel comfortable extending the superintendent’s contract for another four years. He also mentioned that Garverick needed a support staff.
“I brought it up during executive session that he needs a support staff, it’s a really tough job for one person,” said Elswick after the meeting.
According to district records, Garverick received an average score of 2.3, for “needs improvement,” in his summative annual evaluation. The summative evaluation had three objectives:
Increasing Student Achievement — 2, Needs Improvement.
Technology — 2, Needs Improvement.
Reutilization of Springmill Learning Center — 3, Good.
The score was based on a one to five scale — one representing “unacceptable” and five representing “outstanding.”
In addition to the summative annual evaluation, board members scored on the same one to five scale for 16 job responsibilities. Garverick received an average of 2.7 out of all the board members’ separate evaluations. The 2.7 score means Garverick does not qualify for a salary raise. In order to qualify, Garverick would have needed to score an average of four on his evaluation.
Cline expressed her support for Garverick before the meeting adjourned and said there is always room to grow.
“I think he’s (Garverick) a very good superintendent. He is the man for the job. And I think he’s doing very well … With all of us, you know, we have room to grow and I feel that our board does support him in his growth, and I believe he is supporting our growth.”
In other news, the Mansfield School Employees Association rallied Tuesday night in the board room to show support for the ongoing negotiations between the association and administration.
“They’ve been in negotiation for six months now. We’re here to show support for that,” said MSEA spokesperson Amanda Clawson.
Garverick said the MSEA’s presence at Tuesday’s board meeting was a surprise to him.
“We’re still in talks about that,” said Garverick, who declined further comment.
Mansfield’s Board of Education will meet Tuesday, Jan. 5 at 5 p.m. in the Lowell P. Smith room at 856 Cook Road for a reorganizational meeting. Newly appointed Sheryl Weber will be sworn into office as the board’s newest board member.
