Stacey Hodoh, the director of strategic communications at Akron Public Schools, was recently placed on leave pending review of “concerns received by the district.”
Hodoh, the director of strategic communications, media and community relations and outreach for Akron Public Schools, was placed on administrative leave May 8, according to a letter sent to her by the school district.
Akron Board of Education President Barbara Sykes confirmed Hodoh was on leave, but directed further questions to the district. Requests for comment from Superintendent Mary Outley were not responded to Tuesday.
The school district, according to the letter, is investigating “concerns received by the district regarding statements, communications and other escalating conduct occurring over the past several months, and/or other possible violations of board policy, administrative guidelines and job responsibilities.”
Hodoh: ‘Always been rooted in professional integrity’
In an email statement to Signal Akron, Hodoh wrote her commitment to the district has “always been rooted in professional integrity and the well-being of our staff and students.”
“My focus remains entirely on the health of the institution and pushing toward positive momentum, transformation and renewal,” she wrote. “Out of respect for the district, I have no further comment.”
Hodoh previously involved in verbal dispute with school board member
Akron schools hired Hodoh effective Dec. 2, 2024, at an annual salary of $143,216. She replaced Mark Williamson, who had served in the role for more than a decade.
It is not immediately clear when her current contract expires.
Weeks after accepting the role, Hodoh was at odds with school board leadership. After a back-and-forth verbal dispute Dec. 18, board members Greg Harrison and Rene Molenaur filed complaints.
During the exchange, which occurred in an elevator at the Akron Public Schools’ administration building, Hodoh allegedly threatened Harrison and said he would “find himself on a poster messing around with me” — an apparent reference to posters placed around Akron calling the then-Superintendent Michael Robinson a “bully.”
At the time, Hodoh said the posters were derogatory and offensive and that the downtown Akron display may have been an illegal “defacement of public property.” The Akron Police Department declined to investigate the issue.
Hodoh was mentioned in an outside law firm’s review of Robinson, the former superintendent, in connection with the elevator confrontation.
Hodoh involved in political action committee endorsement issue
Last year, Hodoh was involved in an altercation linked to a slate of political endorsements falsely attributed to the People’s Convention Political Action Committee.
In mid-October 2025, the PAC endorsed Carla Jackson, Diana Autry, Gwen Bryant and Cynthia Blake in a contentious Akron school board race. Later that month, a statement on social media attributed to the PAC’s president, N. Roy Hodoh, who is Stacy Hodoh’s father, denounced the “fraudulent use of the organization’s name” in the since-revoked endorsement.
The endorsement and statement revoking them reportedly sparked an incident between Stacey Hodoh and the PAC’s treasurer, who is a longtime family friend of the Hodohs.
The treasurer filed a police report against Stacey Hodoh, alleging the school administrator confronted her in the parking lot after a school board candidate forum at Garfield Community Learning Center and asked her to take down the revocation of the endorsement.
At the time, Hodoh characterized the police report as a calculated tactic to publicize a disjointed endorsement process and make Hodoh the subject of controversial media coverage.
Hodoh did not face any criminal charges related to the treasurer’s complaint, according to Akron Municipal Court records.
