CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Board of Education is naming an interim superintendent Monday night after approving its separation agreement with outgoing superintendent Iranetta Wright.
Wright submitted her resignation last week after all six unions within Cincinnati Public Schools gave Wright a vote of no confidence. Last Wednesday, CPS announced the board and Wright reached a separation agreement that includes paying her through the end of her three-year contract that expires July 31, 2025. Wright makes $260,000 a year, and is still eligible for health insurance under the agreement.
"She was doing what she felt she believed to be right," Board President Eve Bolton said. "Good for her, and we're proud of that we're proud of her superintendency, but the reality is she knew if you can't get people to come along it's a detriment to the district and that's why it's kind of weird that we have differences among board members."
Ben Lindy is one of two CPS board members who voted against Wright's separation agreement. He wanted to keep her as superintendent.
"I think we're moving forward without a plan in the middle of a budget crisis that is of this board's creation and frankly I'm worried about what happens next," Lindy said. "I think this is a mistake, I think there are better paths forward that we could've chosen specifically why not work with a third-party mediator?"
When WCPO asked Bolton about what Lindy suggested she said, "Stop ... two people out of seven (voted against it), one person who is justifying his presidency of two years, when all of this was happening. Anybody that wants to keep trying to make division is not serving the people that put us here."
Lindy said he worries that the board isn't one "that prioritizes student outcomes."
We asked Lindy about the timeline of Wright's resignation, including if there were talks before the unions gave votes of no confidence.
"This happened exceedingly fast, shockingly fast, and I think rushed," Lindy said, "I mean all of this happened last week."
We asked if Wright indicated there was a possibility she would resign prior to the announcement.
"I can't speak for anybody else, but I can say that I certainly was not a part of any of those talks," he said.
We also asked Bolton about that timeline, and if there was a possibility Wright was thinking about resigning before the vote of no confidence.
"Superintendent (Wright) was aware probably a couple of weeks before the vote of no confidence that the unions had requested to see the board," Bolton said. "I think she started to be concerned, rightfully so, as did the board ... 'Is the board needing me to stay or not?' — that kind of discussion probably was occurring, maybe not with a full board, until the last week or two."
Bolton said Wright's resignation came down to a few deciding factors, but mainly centered around a "lack of collaboration" with the unions, school leaders and the community.
"And those were addressed often by the board and they were not corrected, so when things don't get corrected that you know need improvement something's wrong," Bolton said.
Lindy felt the board didn't do everything necessary to try and repair the relationships. He also expressed what's next for the next superintendent.
"I think the honest response is to run as fast as you can away from Cincinnati Public Schools and I think that's such a shame," Lindy said. "(If) the board dysfunction and the ability to collaborate genuinely with our labor partners does not get better, I'm just very worried about what the future holds."
Bolton responded to what Lindy said.
"I wish the board had been doing more management, we just spent two years under that person's leadership not the superintendent, but that previous president being told we had no role to play," Bolton said. "Superintendent Wright got pretty much free reign, she was able to bring her own staff in her own leadership team in whatever resources she requested she got.
"It's just ironic that anybody would say we weren't managing, she should've been doing more management. You can concentrate on one thing and talk about student outcomes but you still have these other responsibilities, and those other responsibilities were forced to be ignored."
Both Lindy and Bolton agreed on one thing. We asked both of them if given the chance, would they hire Wright again as superintendent.
"Absolutely," said Lindy.
"In a heartbeat," said Bolton.
