During Saturday’s board retreat, a presentation included a slide with comments submitted by Superintendent Michael Robinson. He sought to explain his relationship with the Akron Board of Education.
“Respect me – not treat me like I’m a criminal.” one bullet point read.
“Trust me. I don’t feel valued, trusted, or respected. I am on ‘front street’ and that it’s a ‘gotcha’ with everything.”
Last week, Signal Akron reported Board Member Rene Molenaur penned a 4,000-word letter to fellow board members in July, accusing Robinson of bullying her multiple times, as well as shouting at her during a virtual meeting. Since then, Molenaur no longer meets one-on-one with Robinson; instead she submits up to 10 questions weekly in a Google Form which the administration is supposed to respond to ahead of board meetings.
Last weekend’s slides containing Robinson’s complaints were flicked through quickly, and board members did not discuss them in depth. Instead, they debated the best ways, moving forward, to gather information and ask questions of their employee, the superintendent. The moderator at the retreat repeatedly emphasized that this school board does not have established processes or procedures for communication and information gathering.
“I don’t even know how to do that, because I don’t even know what our norms are,” Molenaur said on Saturday. “I don’t know where communication goes.”
Robinson was asked on Saturday if other board members use the Google Forms that Molenaur’s questions are been relegated to.
“No,” Robinson replied. He added that he’s easily accessible to other board members.
“[Other board members] will call me and ask me about something to be put on the agenda,” Robinson said. “It’s really not a complicated, sophisticated process.”
Two days later, the lack of clear communication and information sharing was on display again as the Board of Education approved a resolution that purports to recognize the success of Robinson and the district under his guidance. It also highlights a board of education mired in dysfunction ahead of a critical levy vote in November.
Resolution approved as ‘Community has recently heard negative stories’
The motion, a late addition to Monday’s meeting agenda, listed several initiatives and achievements across the district, some of which began under Robinson. In it, the board felt it was necessary to laud the superintendent in an official resolution because “the community has recently heard negative stories about Akron Public Schools” in the press.
The document included three statements, two of which praised Robinson directly.
One statement “reaffirms the excellent performance evaluation of Superintendent Dr. Robinson and encourages him to continue the positive progress and momentum he has established within the District.” The second “formally recognizes and congratulates scholars, staff, and the Superintendent on the outstanding progress that has been made under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Robinson.”
The resolution came as a surprise to Molenaur, who challenged being asked to vote for statistics and statements of support without a longer period of review. She abstained from Monday’s vote.
“I will read this,” Molenaur said when the resolution was first introduced “but I did not hear about this until we sat down and I checked this at 5 o’clock today.”
Google Docs and multimedia metrics
On Monday night, Molenaur mentioned the form that she’s been asked to submit questions through.
“In my Google Doc this week, I asked the question: Could you let me know when this information would be available?” Molenaur said. “… The response I got was we do not have the staff or resources to fulfill your request at this time.”
She mentioned this because the board on Monday approved a new director of strategic communications position (pay will range between $118,359.25 – $143,216.62) to replace longtime press liaison Mark Williamson, who is retiring at the end of the month. The job description includes multimedia metrics.
“Not knowing when we will have data, or not having a response for when we’ll have data, that’s when I become concerned,” Molenaur said.
Board President Diana Autry interjected: “Dr. Molenaur, do you have a question about something under personnel?”
“I do,” Molenaur responded. “Does that mean we’re not using a data-driven strategy for content and marketing?”
The back and forth continued until Molenaur tried to introduce a motion to pause the addition of administrative staff that do not deal directly with students until “data can be brought to the board outlining the business case for [the] positions.”
Her motion was not seconded or voted on.