Cynthia Gilbert,
executive assistant in the personnel department, completes the hiring process
for Danhi Reynolds, left, who will begin work next month as an intervention
specialist at Mansfield Middle School.
Hiring of qualified candidates to fill teaching and administrative vacancies continues as Mansfield City Schools prepares for the 2017-2018 school year.
The process is headed by Personnel Director Mark Manley, a veteran 31-year educator from Xenia who joined the district a year ago. His responsibilities recently were expanded to include the role of assistant superintendent.
Each year retirements and resignations create teaching and administrative vacancies that must be filled over the summer.
“It is a very busy time but the process is important,” Manley said. “If you are a parent, your child’s teacher or building administrator is extremely important to you.”
Earlier this year the district implemented Frontline, an online job-posting network which Manley said has a statewide reach.
“We definitely have seen an increase in our pool of candidates,” Manley said. “For each open position I begin by reviewing applicants’ written material – their resumes, cover letters, other information they may have submitted. I look for experience, if possible. Does the candidate demonstrate the ability to work with urban children?”
Manley’s desk screening results in the selection of applicants for interviews by committees of district administrators and teachers. He has developed research-based questions and a scoring rubric to assure consistency in the interviews. After the initial round one or more candidates are invited to return for a second interview.
“There could be a third interview when a teaching candidate, for example, might be asked to demonstrate a mock lesson,” Manley said. “We usually complete the hiring process in 14 to 30 days.”
The completion of that process is Superintendent Brian Garverick’s hiring recommendations to the board of education.
The hiring of two administrators and the reassignment of a third will be recommended to the board at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday. They include:
-- Monica Hubbard as assistant principal at Sherman Elementary School. Hubbard, a former principal at Prospect Elementary and at an elementary in Mount Gilead, was a member of the board of education until her resignation in January. At Sherman, she will succeed Karly Watterson who resigned to accept a principal position in Mount Vernon.
-- Timothy “Scott” Musser II as assistant principal at Mansfield Senior High. Musser currently is principal and chief operating officer at Bio-Med Science Academy STEM School in Rootstown, Ohio. Senior High Assistant Principal Lori Crum resigned to accept a position in East Cleveland.
-- Jason Douglas as principal of Prospect Elementary School. Douglas, currently the assistant principal at Mansfield Middle School, will succeed Martin Linder, who recently was named the district’s Director of School Improvement. Selection of Douglas’ successor at the middle school is in process.
The district continues to work to fill nine teaching positions and hire another assistant principal at Senior High.
“We are striving to get the best possible person in every position, whether building administrator or teacher in the classroom,” Manley said. “That is our commitment and we work very hard to achieve it.”