July 7, 2005

By Diane Chiddister

The Yellow Springs Board of Education agreed last week to use the services of the Weissman Group in their search for a new school superintendent to succeed Tony Armocida, who has said that he is likely to retire in two years.

“I think we should pursue this opportunity. We need this kind of guidance,” board member Bill Firestone said during the board’s discussion on the Weissman Group, which took place during a special meeting on June 30.

The board voted 4–0 to engage the services of the consulting firm. Board member Richard Lapedes recused himself from the vote.

Lapedes recused himself because of his business connections with the Weissman Group.

Norman Weissman, one of the partners in the Weissman Group, has served for many years on the board of Lion Apparel, which Lapedes owns. The Weissman Group also has worked with Lapedes’s company.

In an arrangement between Lapedes and the Weissman Group, the consulting firm would not charge the board for its services. Rather, Lapedes and his wife, Maureen Lynch, will handle the compensation for the work by donating one half of the business’s usual fee to a nonprofit of the Weissman Group’s choice. Thus, the school board gets the professional service free.

Under the same arrangement, the group also provided service for the board’s last superintendent search eight years ago, when Armocida was hired. At that time, Lapedes and Lynch also handled the firm’s compensation.

The Weissman Group has performed a similar service to other Miami Valley nonprofits, such as Planned Parenthood and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, according to Lapedes.

The connection between Lapedes and the Weissman Group was highlighted last week in an article in the News. It had not been discussed during the board’s meeting on June 23, when Mary Rita Weissman, who works with her husband, Norman, at the Weissman Group, gave a presentation to the school board.

Lapedes recused himself from the vote after Armocida contacted John Rawski, a lawyer with the Ohio Ethics Commission.

According to Armocida, Rawski said that it would be ethical for the board to accept the pro bono service from the Weissman Group as long as the process is transparent and that the connection between Lapedes and the Weissman Group is clear to the public. Rawski also said that Lapedes needed to recuse himself from voting on the firm’s hiring, Armocida reported.

Armocida has told the school board that he will retire after two or three more years on the job. In May, the school board expressed support in hiring Yellow Springs High School Principal John Gudgel to succeed Armocida, and Gudgel has said he does not yet know if he is interested in the job.

During the board’s June 9 meeting, Gudgel had what he described as an informal discussion with the board about succeeding Armocida. The discussion took place in executive session, which was closed to the public, though Gudgel confirmed that the discussion took place.

In other school board business:

• The board approved the hiring of Dennis Farmer, who will replace Michael Ruddell as a music teacher for the Yellow Springs schools. Farmer was offered a one-year limited contract. Ruddell resigned at the end of the school year.

Farmer, who most recently taught at the Paint Valley School District in Ross County, was selected out of more than 100 applicants, and was the unanimous choice of the search committee, Gudgel reported. The committee interviewed eight finalists.

“He stood out. He really impressed us,” said Gudgel, noting that the committee was impressed by Farmer’s child-centered approach to teaching and by his success in reviving troubled music programs. A trumpet player, Farmer has in the past been a regular performer at Gilly’s in Dayton, and played for many years with jazz ensembles in Cincinnati.

“His students will pick up on that and benefit from it,” school board member Mary Campbell-Zopf said of Farmer’s experience as a musician.

• The board approved the hiring of Annette Fulton as an aide at Mills Lawn School, Sandra Morris as an aide at YSHS/McKinney School, and increased the contract of Laura Pollock, currently a part-time aide, to full-time.

• The board approved the selection of Mathematics Course III, published by Prentice Hall, as the new eighth-grade mathematics textbook.

McKinney teacher MacKenzie Reynolds said the Prentice Hall text was the choice of a committee that reviewed four options for a new book. The committee chose the Prentice Hall book because its lessons are clear and more in-depth, it follows current standards set by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, it ties math to writing and, of the four books reviewed, it best serves as a “bridge” between the middle school and Mills Lawn and the high school, Reynolds said.

• The board approved Kristin Adkins, Kimberly Brown, Angela Warner, Richard Fischer and Stephanie Tierney as substitute teachers for the 2005–06 school year, at $70 per day.

• The board approved Ellen Guest and Sue Hawkey as substitute teachers for the 2005 summer school program, at $25 per hour.

• The board approved the following co-curricular contracts for the 2005–06 school year: Vickie Hitchcock, assistant to the YSHS principal, $4,043, Principal’s Council, $1,143, Student Review Board, $335, and Fitness Center supervisor, $11 per hour; James Ventling, YSHS Web advisor, $1,143; Hitchcock, Kevin O’Brien, Sarah Lowe and Robin Fast, student assistance team members, $1,143 each; Joyce McCurdy, volunteer Mock Trial advisor, no compensation, and Quick Recall advisor, $864; Linda Sikes, freshman class co-advisor, $139; Gudgel, Fitness Center supervisor, $11 per hour, Wednesday School supervisor, $50 per session, and boys track coach, $3,652; Sue Smart, EMIS data entry, $500; Roberta Semler, cheerleading advisor, $847; and Reynolds, head girls soccer coach, $3,652.

The board approved the following co-curricular contracts for non-school employees for the coming year: Amy Fugate, YSHS freshman class co-advisor, $111; Roberta Perry, assistant site manager, $1,361; Brad Newsome, head basketball coach, $2,766; Shirley Martin, volleyball coach, $1,606; Vince Peters, track coach, $2,766, and cross country coach, $1,606; Jerome Crosswhite, head football coach, $2,766; and Jim Hardman, head boys soccer coach, $2,766.