Mary Outley, then the interim superintendent of Akron Public Schools, spent part of Monday in the Litchfield Community Learning Center classroom of her sorority sister, Morgan Greene.
By evening, they had switched roles. Outley sat with the Akron Board of Education in her first full meeting as the school district’s two-time interim leader. And Greene supported her, by donning red in honor of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
The gesture showed support for the woman who has twice filled in when Akron superintendents moved on for different reasons but two years ago did not win the role when she interviewed.
“I think they should just give her the job,” said Greene, an eighth grade science teacher. “She’s walked the walk and talked the talk. Why not give your own a chance?”
Hours later, school board members did just that. In a 4-3 vote, they decided to make Outley the district’s superintendent, pending a contract negotiation. The approval followed a chaotic scene in which board members said they didn’t even know if Outley was interested in the job.
She was.
“I would be honored to serve Akron Public Schools as the next superintendent, if given the opportunity,” Outley told board members after 11 p.m. — when she walked into a public discussion about whether to hire her.
Board President Carla Jackson, explaining the situation, told Outley, “You can decline it if you want to.”
Meet Mary Outley, new superintendent of Akron Public Schools. pic.twitter.com/P6AGVsRds1
— Gary Estwick 🗞 (@garyestwick) April 29, 2025
Previous interim role served as a ‘six-month interview’
Outley was in her upstairs office when a security guard told her she was the subject of discussion and might want to return to the meeting. Board members had been in executive session to discuss the future of Superintendent Michael Robinson; she didn’t realize the public portion of the meeting had resumed.
(Prior to voting on Outley’s role, board members voted 4-3 to accept Robinson’s resignation and pay him $200,000 following the release of a scathing report that recounted multiple episodes of bullying, harassment and retaliation; those who were opposed to accepting his resignation said they didn’t want to pay him that sum to leave.)
Outley, who has worked in the district since she was hired as a fifth grade teacher at Erie Island Elementary School in 1990, said she knew it was a possibility that Robinson would leave the district. Still, she wasn’t sure what was going to happen next.
Outley last interviewed for the superintendent job in 2023, after Christine Fowler Mack resigned from the school district’s top job following a scathing review and tension with the board. Outley was the interim leader then, too, and said she was disappointed that she wasn’t selected.
Under Robinson, she served as the executive director for school leadership. Two weeks ago, she became the interim superintendent again when Robinson was suspended. She said she hadn’t spoken to board members about the role since. But Outley said she thought of her first stint in the interim position as “a six-month interview” and assumed because she was made interim superintendent again, board members were happy with her work the first time.
She accepted the job without hesitation, she said, “because that was my heart in the first place.”
“I didn’t foresee any of this happening,” she added. “Maybe this is the right time.”
Steadiness wins out
Greene certainly thinks it is. She didn’t think it was fair that Outley was tapped twice to clean up the messes of other people but wasn’t given the chance to show what she could do on a permanent basis.
“You passed up on her before. Was it a good idea? No,” Greene said. “What was the magic you were looking for? Again, they call on her again, to put on her cape and save the district.”
Greene said her students were “blown away” by the fact that the interim superintendent visited their classroom. She said Outley is hardworking, loves education, is visible and works with everyone — critical skills in a district working through a leadership crisis.
Lori Alamin, another member of Delta Sigma Theta, said Outley is “steady” and has the experience to lead. An intervention specialist at Voris Community Learning Center, Alamin called the new superintendent compassionate, empathetic and a good listener.
“She’s a steady hand,” Alamin said. “She knows a little about everything in this district.”
Steadiness is what led school board member Diana Autry to nominate Outley for the role. Autry had been part of “several” superintendent searches, she said, and there was “no time like the present” to make a choice.
“Our district and community deserve stability from someone they know at this time,” Autry said before Outley entered the room.
Summer Hall, another member of the board, said she didn’t think it was fair to “keep playing with” Outley by putting her in the interim role twice. She also voted to hire her permanently.
New Akron superintendent plans to start role listening
The school board members who voted against her appointment — Barbara Sykes, Gregory Harrison and Rene Molenaur — said they thought the board should give themselves more time to make a final decision, considering Outley hadn’t interviewed with all of the members of this board. Sykes urged colleagues to take time to deliberate.
“Boards should have some discussion, not only with each other, but with the candidate,” Molenaur said.
Board member Gregory Harrison said there was no due diligence.
“We don’t run a half-billion-dollar business on feelings,” he said.
But after the vote, swarmed by reporters, Outley said she wanted to do whatever she needed to gain the full support of the board. She wants to make sure the issues that caused some to vote against her appointment aren’t with her or her leadership.
Given the tumult, Outley said she isn’t quite ready to celebrate her new position.
She knows there’s work to do. Outley said she hasn’t read the full report on Robinson’s behavior but intends to — and knows that she must be mindful of how she communicates with employees and others, given the issues the district is overcoming.
The goal, she said, is to move Akron Public Schools forward. She’s going to start by listening.
Outley understands these aren’t normal circumstances — but still, she called the appointment a blessing.
“I believe things happen for a reason and this must be my time,” she said. “I’m going to go back to my office tonight and say, ‘Thank you, Lord.’”