The Akron Board of Education on Monday affirmed its decision to appoint Mary Outley as superintendent — pending a negotiated contract — one week after first naming her to the top education post.
The motion passed after a brief executive session, falling along the same 4-3 divide as the previous vote. Board President Carla Jackson, Vice President Bruce Alexander, and members Summer Hall and Diana Autry voted in favor of the motion. Members Barbara Sykes, Gregory Harrison and Rene Molenaur all voted no, citing concerns about the lack of process.
For the board president, the opportunity to appoint Outley, even without a process that garners board consensus, marks an opportunity to move the district past the turnover in leadership that it has experienced since Christine Fowler Mack was ousted in 2023.
“Continuity with someone in the district that has relationships, I think, brings that,” Jackson said during Monday’s special board meeting.
According to a board policy outlining how it should search for a new superintendent, the board “shall actively seek the best qualified and most capable candidate.” The language in the policy, specifically the use of the words “shall” and “may,” became a point of debate Monday.
Autry and Jackson said the board didn’t violate policy or state law in appointing Outley. Harrison said if the board didn’t want to follow its policies, there was a policy for that. Specifically, he was speaking about a motion to suspend the rules.
Challenging the process for naming Outley superintendent, but not Outley
Harrison and Molenaur criticized the process the board took to appoint Outley, but not Outley herself.
Molenaur, meanwhile, laid out six reasons why the lack of a process to formally interview Outley, a graduate of Akron Public Schools who has been with the district professionally for more than three decades, or to search for other candidates could undermine the decision to appoint her.
Molenaur said a transparent process would build “public trust and transparency” while reducing legal and ethical risks. She also said considering additional candidates would mitigate concerns of nepotism or cronyism.
“Right now, our district needs to heal,” Molenaur said during the meeting. “And the superintendent search and the conversation and that build up, that is part of this process.”
She also said Akron Board of Education members should set a good example, given their proximity to students.
“We need to demonstrate the importance of fairness, transparency and rigorous decision making — the same values that we expect our students to learn and to uphold,” Molenaur said.
Four current Akron board members interviewed Outley for job top back in 2023
Autry pushed back, citing the unanimous appointment of Outley to the interim role and the fact that four current board members interviewed her for the top education position two years ago (Jackson, Autry, Alexander and Molenaur).
Still, the board then chose not to hire Outley, instead opting for Michael Robinson, who didn’t last two school years in Akron.
Autry also cited a survey circulated among staff, community members and business leaders during the previous superintendent search in which she said Outley’s name came up repeatedly.
“It’s time to put a period behind all the issues that we have been seeing,” Autry said. “When I talk to [the] community, they’re about sick of the mess, as some of them have put it towards me.”
