Mary Outley isn’t in the business of pointing fingers or assigning blame for Akron Public Schools’ recent troubles. Instead, the district’s new superintendent is focused on collaboration.
Outley’s first task? Tuesday’s pre-scheduled internal leadership retreat with top administrators.
“We want to move forward,” Outley, a graduate of Buchtel High School, said late Monday night. “We know that it’s on us as a leadership team to work together to help move the district forward.”
Outley was serving as the interim superintendent when a divided school board placed her in the full-time role — pending contract negotiations — Monday at 11:17 p.m., the climax of a long and tumultuous school board meeting. Minutes earlier, the board voted to accept the resignation of former superintendent Michael Robinson, whose actions as an education leader were deemed toxic, according to a report by the law firm Brennan Manna Diamond. The district will pay Robinson $200,000 to leave.
Understandably, Outley didn’t lay out a long-term vision for Akron Public Schools late Monday night, but here are several issues she will face in the near future:
- Negotiating union contracts
- Addressing safety and law enforcement in schools
- Repairing morale from district headquarters to the classroom
- Navigating unfair labor practice complaints filed over the past two years
- Finalizing the district’s reduction-in-force plans
Outley said she isn’t opposed to keeping Robinson’s Blueprint for Excellence, a strategic plan with a five-year implementation window. She also believes her familiarity with and institutional knowledge of Akron schools will help her maintain continuity as the district navigates longstanding and unavoidable hurdles.
Annie McFadden, the interim president and CEO of United Way of Summit & Medina, said Outley’s experience locally has garnered a lot of good will. The two were in the same Leadership Akron class, and McFadden described Outley as an “amazing person” who has built up a lot of trust and respect in the community.
“I personally have a lot of confidence in her,” McFadden said. “She has the steady, calm leadership the community needs right now.”
In Akron schools, there was also excitement. An administrator at a high school in the district, who was granted anonymity to speak because she did not have permission to do so, said “everybody” was happy with Outley’s appointment.
“I know that she’ll do a great job,” the administrator said. “It’s good news.”
Supporter: New Akron superintendent ‘specifically leads by example’
Outley hesitated to compare her leadership style to that of the ousted superintendent but said she values feedback and differing opinions.
“It’s really about listening and then seeing how what suggestions they provide can be used to help heal and move us forward,” Outley said.
McFadden said Outley is kind and warm. Every leader has a different style, but McFadden said Outley “specifically leads by example” — something she said was a great quality for a leader whom students look up to.
Outley said she purposely had not read the full investigative report that concluded Robinson routinely bullied, harassed and threatened employees although she plans to now — but what she did read gave her insight into what she needs to do as the district’s leader.
She wants to use town halls or forums that invite community comments. She also wants to engage with senior staff.
“I do feel that I am very much open to discussion,” Outley said. “I want to hear feedback.”
Outley has “a big job ahead of her,” said Robert DeJournett, the senior pastor of St. Ashworth Temple, Church of God in Christ and the founding president and CEO of the Black Chamber of Commerce — Summit County. He expects Outley to be transparent and to “calm things down” following a long period of disorder in the district, dating back to the tenure of Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack, who, in 2023, left before her contract was up following disagreements with the school board.
“I think there has been such a distraction the last few years,” DeJournett said. “We need to cast attention on where it needs to be, and that’s our children.”
What issues do Outley, school district, face?
Akron schools is currently undergoing contract negotiations with its seven unions.
Recently, the Information Technologies department asked the district to voluntarily recognize its unionization, which the board has yet to do.
Outley is also charged with raising morale across the school district and finalizing operational and staffing cuts demanded by the board.
The board recently nixed a proposed contract to keep Akron police officers in schools. And the Akron Education Association, the local teachers’ union, has at least a dozen labor grievances and five unfair labor practice complaints that did not disappear with Robinson’s resignation.
Pat Shipe, the president of the Akron Education Association, said she’s encouraged by Outley’s institutional knowledge and familiarity with the district’s operations but is taking a “wait-and-see” approach to her leadership.
“We have many broken relationships and a lot of things that need to be resolved,” Shipe told Signal Akron.
“… We want to see a really concerted effort to be honest and transparent and work out these issues. That’ll be up to Mary and the administration.”
DeJournett said Outley is a servant leader with a welcoming leadership style who will listen to the needs of the district and the community.
Meet Mary Outley, new superintendent of Akron Public Schools. pic.twitter.com/P6AGVsRds1
— Gary Estwick 🗞 (@garyestwick) April 29, 2025
“She has a great understanding of our community, she knows the players,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any trepidation on Mary’s part. She knows what it needs.”
DeJournett said he’s a proponent of internal promotions — when that happens, he said, the individual already knows the system they’re stepping into and the people around them know who they’re getting. Outley is well thought of, he said — after being passed over for the superintendent job in 2023, “she just kept on working.”
“I’m really pleased she has an opportunity,” he said.
Still, Outley’s appointment doesn’t eliminate many of the issues the district faced under Robinson. DeJournett pointed out that there was division in naming her, with the school board voting 4-3 to confirm Outley after some members expressed concern that the decision was being made too quickly.
“I would have liked the full support of the board,” Outley said. “And so I will do whatever I need to do to see what that disconnect is and how we can work together to move forward in the best interest of our scholars.”