Board to consider action against superintendent

The Tiffin City Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting today to allow the board to discuss the employment of a public employee during an executive session. The meeting is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and is to take place at the Tiffin Middle School, 103 Shepherd Dr. During the meeting, there may be related board action taken. The meeting was initiated due to the district's recent hiring of Van E. McWreath as superintendent. McWreath was charged in May with three counts of unlawful restraint, a third-degree misdemeanor, in Trumbull County. He also had a run-in with the Cortland Police Department on March 19 regarding several calls the police allege he made to dispatch. The TCS board approved the hiring of McWreath on April 13. The board then approved a three-year contract on April 27, for McWreath to serve as superintendent effective Aug. 1. The contract is for $139,000 annually. The board announced today's special meeting Tuesday during its regular session. The board had also directed counsel to draft proposals of separation. The Advertiser-Tribune posed the following questions to board members via email Wednesday: * What made Mr. McWreath the candidate of choice over some of the internal candidates that have more knowledge and respect in the district?* Could you briefly explain the process of hiring a superintendent? Was there any form of a background check done?* What are the proposals of separation?* How does the board plan to win back the confidence in the district from the public? How does the board plan to better communicate with the public?* With the need of passing an upcoming levy, how does the board plan to express the need to the public now? Proposals of separation are processes through which the board and the employee come to agreed-upon terms of separation of the individuals from the district, according to board member Meagan McBride. Regarding McWreath, McBride said the board has serious concerns about the information that has recently come to light concerning Mr. McWreath. In regards to the incident with McWreath, McBride said the board has been exploring its options with legal counsel. She said the board has a number of options, including but not limited to the termination of the contract. "As with all public employees, there is a process that is required by statute to implement such options," McBride said. "The board will continue to make the best decisions it can for the welfare of the school district with the information it has/is able to obtain and in compliance with the law." During the meeting Tuesday, community members expressed their concerns with the board about its lack of communication with the public and district families. This past May, the district saw a proposed 6.9-mill property tax levy, to be used for daily operations in the district, fail. The district will be in deficit spending in 2022 if a levy doesn't pass in November. "The board is grateful for the community and that they used their voices and have shared their views, insights, frustrations, and concerns with us," McBride said. "We are committed to working to move forward from this, to rebuild public trust, and focus on transparency as we aim for stability in leadership and finances." McBride said the board needs to "spend time listening and hearing the community." "We also need to find more effective ways to share information with the community and more ways to reach our community members," she said. "While we do not have a PR firm to help us disseminate information over multiple platforms, we need to do our due diligence in finding better ways to communicate and over numerous modalities," she said. "This is something we heard clearly we need to do better with and are committed to addressing." Board members Jeff Hoyda (president), Andrew Gase (vice president), Chris Widman and Victor Perez did not respond to questions by Thursday evening. How McWreath was hiredAccording to McBride, the board worked with the Ohio School Board Association (OSBA) to facilitate the superintendent search. The district also implemented community, staff and administration focus groups to help with developing criteria on what they want in a superintendent. OSBA then worked to weed out candidates based on the criteria that were presented. All applicants then had to complete an application process — in which they had to submit cover letters, transcripts, letters of recommendation and artifacts regarding their education and experience, McBride said. The board went through each individually with OSBA, she said. The field was then narrowed and the first round of interviews was ready to start. Following the first interviews, candidates were again narrowed down for the second round of interviews. During this time, board members called references and the candidates went through extensive personality/leadership screenings through OSBA. From there, the board then examined the information gathered and prepared for final interviews, McBride said. Background checks and extensive reference checks were done, McBride said. This component of the employment process is required of all candidates so they may gain and retain active licensure through the Ohio Department of Education. According to information provided by the Ohio School Board Association, the Tiffin City board had 10 candidates, including McWreath, on its interview list for the superintendent position. Candidates included Matthew Chrispin, superintendent of Bucyrus City Schools; Scott Hartley of North Fork Local Schools; Steven Lee, assistant superintendent of Maumee City Schools; Kristine Michael, assistant superintendent of Northridge Local Schools; Shawn Murphy, principal of Tiffin Middle School; Derrick Sheldon, principal of Reynoldsburg City Schools; Forrest Tristler, principal of Tiffin Columbian High School; William Welker, superintendent of Eastwood Local Schools; and Michael Zalar, superintendent of North Olmstead City School District.