The Marietta City Schools Board of Education hired an interim superintendent Monday and accepted the resignation of board member Mark Mason.
Herb Young, former superintendent of five school districts, including Frontier and Morgan Local, will take over the position being left vacant Aug. 1 by Superintendent Doug Baker while the board searches for a permanent replacement.
Young retired from the Frontier district in 2005, after two years there and 35 in education. He also served as a principal in the Warren Local district from 1983 to 1990.
"I'm excited about this," Young said after Monday's meeting. "My wife and I have always liked Marietta and it's a great opportunity to get back here."
He's not approaching the job as a temporary position, said Young, who has been working as a consultant in South Point since leaving the Frontier district.
"I'm not going to just babysit," he said. "I want to put together at least a five-year plan. I start Aug. 1, but I'll be here two days this week, three days next week ... I'll be meeting with the curriculum people, building administrators and the union presidents and talking with them."
Young will earn a salary of $99,963 in the position, the same amount as Baker.
"We're very pleased and honored that he was available and willing to come in and do this," said board President Jack Moberg. "It was a lot of good fortune for this to come together."
The board will now start a search for a board member to replace Mason, who was serving his second four-year term and is resigning effective July 28. Mason said in his letter of resignation that "work-related circumstances" necessitated a move out of Ohio and that he considered his time on the board to be a pleasure, honor and a learning experience.
The board is taking applications for the position at the central office, 111 Academy Drive until Aug. 1. The term expires Dec. 31, 2009.
Also at Monday's meeting:
The board discussed future plans for the North Hills Elementary building, 1099 Colegate Drive, which has not been used since the school closed in May 2003.
There are no plans yet to sell the property, which has been appraised at $275,000, said Moberg, but the board welcomes ideas from the public on its use.
Washington County Public Library Director Justin Mayo attended the meeting and said the site is one under consideration for a new facility.
"We are interested in possibly purchasing North Hills for a new library," he said. "But we are looking at a few other sites too."
District business manager Bob Strobl said there has also been some interest from the Marietta Family YMCA, although a change in zoning would need to occur for that purchase to take place.
Several North Hills residents said they were worried about the possible uses for the seven-acre property.
Rose Marie Thomas, a North Hills resident since 1963, said she can remember how anxious people were when Wieser & Cawley Furniture came into the residential neighborhood.
"It just brings to mind that the nature of things can change over time, and I'd hate to see the neighborhood change too much," she said. "I'm concerned just from the standpoint of what goes in and that it's not rezoned."
Several other residents suggested to the board that they hold onto the property in case the district is consolidated into fewer schools in the future, since there is adjoining property and it's close to Marietta High School.
Board member Allen Love said there will be a lot more thought before any decision is made.
"When you're selling a school, it's one time and then it's gone forever," he said. "We would have to have a good reason to do it and a long-term benefit from it."
If the board decides to sell North Hills, unless the property is sold to a government entity, there must first be an attempt by the district to sell it at public auction. The money from a sale would have to go toward permanent improvements in the district and can't go into the general fund.
The district is still putting money into the property, even though it's not in use, said Strobl.
"We're spending about $10,000 or $11,000 a year for utilities, about $1,000 for insurance, and then there is some maintenance and upkeep, although we're not doing much more than mowing the grass," he said.
Devola parent Nicole Coil told the board that parents are still concerned about the possibility of Putnam School being closed, especially after the decision that longtime Putnam Principal Joe Finley will make the move to the principal job at Phillips Elementary.
That position was open due to the resignation of Renee Schoonover, effective Aug. 1. Love said the move was voluntary.
"No one was reassigned," he said.
Board members had told parents at a previous meeting that closing any of the elementary schools was an option but nothing is being seriously considered yet.
"We have not had one conversation about how much money would be saved by closing Putnam," board member Ryan Elliott said Monday. "Not one."
