Can't we all just be friends?

Can't we all just get along? Members of the Norwalk City Schools board of education are having a hard time getting on the same page. Again. That was never more evident than last week when the board voted 3-2 to hire Brad Cooley as its new superintendent. Cooley has been with the school district since being hired in the summer of 2002 by Wayne Babcanec and has been high school principal since 2009. The road to the new job for Cooley took a few twists and turns the last couple of weeks. The original list of 18 candidates what whittled down to a pair of people — Jude Meyers and Michael Zalar. After a weekend of discussion, Cooley and Norwalk Middle School principal Gary Swartz were added to the list. Swartz and Zalar dropped out before the second interviews, leaving just Cooley and Meyers, a Sandusky St. Mary's High School graduate. The two faced a group of about 30 to 35 local residents last week and answered questions for an hour before their second interviews. The board then decided on Cooley, but only by a 3-2 vote. The two board members who voted no, Lisa Wick and Beth Schnellinger, both said it was because of the process. "We support him," Wick said. "There's a reason behind the no, and it's because of how things were handled. They weren't done properly. We want him to succeed, but the way things were handled, for us to come out and say 'yes' to make the district look good, that's not the truth. We're trying to explain the truth." "I am on the school board for all the students," Schnellinger said. "And for the Norwalk community and relationship with St. Paul. "The process in selecting Brad was not followed correctly. As far as the 3-2 vote, it lets the community know that I only want what is best for all. "Mr. Fisk came in on a 4-1 vote." Both feel strongly about how they feel, but the vote was for Cooley, not the process. Both had time before the vote to have their say. Earlier in the week Wick had no problem saying what she felt during the regular board meeting. "All you have to do is ask for the records, emails and put the pieces together," Wick said. "Read what the school board position is supposed to do. We're supposed to govern the district, not run it, not micro-manage it." An email obtained by the Reflector dated June 10 from Schnellinger to board president Ralph Ritzenthaler and the rest of the board says: "It has been a great opportunity to interview so many qualified candidates for the superintendent job," she wrote. "Therefore, I would like to suggest we honor all board members and 4 return for a 2nd round interview." An email dated June 14 from Ritzenthaler to the rest of the board stated "Brad Cooley and Gary Swartz have been added to the finalist list." An email to board members, also dated June 14, from Steve Horton of the Ohio School Boards Association said, "Four candidates is a valid option." Going from two to four finalists wasn't the best way to do it, but as it turned out everybody seems happy with the selection so it must have worked. If they had not gone back to four finalists Cooley would never have gotten the job. My biggest concern is the 3-2 vote. That is something that sticks with a superintendent. Schnellinger pointed out that Mr. Fisk was hired on a 4-1 vote. George Fisk, the outgoing superintendent, resigned to take the same job at Akron Coventry. When the board voted 5-0 to accept his resignation, Fisk quipped "that is the only time they voted 5-0 for me." In her tirade last week against the board, Wick said "If you want to know why Mr. Fisk is leaving, just ask him." I say this to Mrs. Wick. If you want to know what it means for a superintendent to get in by a 4-1 vote just ask him. Then ask Mr. Cooley what it feels like to get voted in by a 3-2 count. No matter how you and Mrs. Schnellinger explain it, he will always be the 3-2 man. Just because you two didn't like the process. Again, let me point out, this was a vote for Cooley and not the process. Mrs. Wick says there is a split in the board and she is left out in the cold along with Schnellinger. I wonder why. Back in 2019 when running for a second four-year term, Wick ponied up with Jeremy Norris for the election. Longtime board member John Lendrum was leaving the board and there were three people running for two positions — Wick, Norris and retired teacher Duane Moore. Wick and Moore won the seats, but the veteran was not gracious in victory. "I'm excited," Wick told the Reflector the night of the election. "The four years has given me a lot to go on. With John leaving, it's big shoes to fill; I hope I do him right." "Thanks to the voters of Norwalk for having the confidence in me to represent them on the board of education," Moore told the Reflector that night. "I look forward to working with the other board members to better our educational system. My goal is to unify the board once again and have a board our superintendent, George Fisk, can work with." Regarding the results, Wick said "Norwalk got it wrong" by voting for Moore, but said she will have a working relationship with him. "He has been out of the loop," she added. Moore has "been out of the loop?" It appears now it is Wick who is "out of the loop." And she doesn't like it. So she took it out on Cooley with her vote. You can't make this stuff up. At a board meeting earlier this year Norwalk resident Alison Crawford accused a board member (Moore) of telling everybody the board had been talking to Francis Scruci and all but promised him the superintendent's job. Scruci, a former coach and teacher at Edison, is the superintendent with the Bowling Green City Schools. "I was shocked to see and hear a member of your community, Alison Crawford, comment on my candidacy for the position of superintendent," Scruci wrote in a May 12 email to board members obtained by the Reflector. "Her assertion was related to the fact that I recently closed on a vacant lot in Eagle Creek on April 16. "...We want to be near our grandchildren in retirement. This rumor/gossip is the result of coincidence and has no merit." Scruci said he is not looking for another job. "In two years I plan on being a community member in Norwalk and blending in as a normal citizen and look forward to not being under the microscope and the subject of gossip and rumors." This board needs to sit down and get on the same page. And get off of Facebook. Somebody has to step forward and be the bigger man or woman. Who is that person going to be? Joe Centers is Reflector managing editor. He can be reached at jcenters@norwalkreflector.com.