Copyright cleveland.com
NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio -- Michael Laub, superintendent of North Royalton City Schools, has accepted that same position for Avon Local Schools and will become superintendent there next summer. On Oct. 21, the Avon school board approved a five-year contract for Laub. He will start there in August. It will be a homecoming for Laub, who was superintendent of Avon Schools from 2012-2021 before moving to the North Royalton district. “I am very appreciative of the time I have spent in North Royalton,” Laub told cleveland.com in a Monday email. “I am proud of what our team has accomplished for our students and the relationships we have developed with families and the community. “I will miss the people here and want nothing but the best for the district,” Laub said. “At the same time, I am excited to return to Avon. “I couldn’t be more appreciative of the opportunity to finish my career back home,” said Laub, who lives in Avon. “It is certainly a special opportunity. “My plan is to finish strong the rest of the year here in North Royalton and provide the best possible transition for whoever they choose to be the new superintendent,” Laub said. At the Oct. 23 North Royalton Board of Education meeting, board President Jacquelyn Arendt said the district would post the superintendent position to internal candidates. The board will interview the candidates at its Nov. 10 work session. If no one now employed by the district applies for the job, the board will determine its next steps at the Nov. 10 work session to seek outside candidates, Arendt said. “The board wishes to express its sincere appreciation for Mr. Laub’s dedication and service to North Royalton, “Arendt said at the Oct. 23 meeting. “His leadership has been instrumental and his presence will be missed,” she said. “We value the dedication he shows to making sure our district has time to plan for his replacement.” Arendt said she wasn’t sure whether the board could have matched the offer from Avon Schools. Laub didn’t indicate that money was involved in his decision. His starting salary will be $173,000 in Avon, news5cleveland has reported. His current salary in North Royalton is $171,325. Other incentives in Laub’s contract in Avon were unknown at the time of this story. Laub didn’t answer when asked about the amount of salary increases he will receive under the contract. “I know Avon never wanted to give him up, so they seized the opportunity to bring him home, especially since he’s part of their community,” Arendt said Oct. 23. Changing his mind Laub’s move to Avon was surprising because just weeks before he accepted the job there, he was planning to retire at age 52. The North Royalton school board was considering rehiring him after he retired so that he could “double-dip” -- collecting his taxpayer-funded state pension while simultaneously earning his superintendent salary. On Sept. 11, the school board unanimously approved a resolution that began the retire-rehire process. The board was planning to host a public hearing on Laub’s post-retirement rehiring, as required by state law, at its Oct. 23 meeting. By Oct. 23, however, Laub had already decided to leave for Avon. Laub didn’t answer when asked when he had received a job offer from Avon and when he accepted the position. Arendt and board member Lisa Shuck told cleveland.com that Laub told them he was leaving North Royalton on Oct. 16 -- five days before the Avon school board approved his new contract. When asked whether they believed Laub had used the Avon Schools job offer to leverage a rehire-retirement arrangement in North Royalton, or vice versa, Shuck and board member Jeremiah Sawyer said no. Shuck and Sawyer said they would have supported Laub’s retire-rehire arrangement. “It would have saved the district money, and he was a fantastic superintendent with great performance reviews,” Sawyer said. “His leadership, vision, integrity and positive attitude shows in the many accomplishments the district has achieved,” Shuck said. When asked if she would have voted in favor of rehiring Laub post-retirement, Arendt said, “We had a tentative contract before we started the process to show we wanted Mr. Laub.” Board members Christiana May and Carlin Culbertson didn’t comment, saying school board policy requires them to defer to the board president. Outside influences Laub didn’t answer when asked whether an email from former school board member Dr. John Kelly had influenced his decision to leave North Royalton. On Oct. 4, Kelly sent an email urging board members not to rehire Laub after his retirement. He didn’t criticize Laub, but expressed opposition to double-dipping in general. “This whole concept presents a very negative image to the electorate and community,” Kelly said in his email. “It is rarely if ever met with enthusiastic support.” Kelly sent his email only to Arendt, May and Culbertson. Board members Sawyer and Shuck, along with Laub, were not included and didn’t receive Kelly’s email until Oct. 10 -- six days later. It’s not clear why Kelly emailed only three board members and why Arendt waited six days to forward the email to Sawyer, Shuck and Laub. Kelly didn’t return emails seeking comment, although he later apologized to school officials for leaving Sawyer, Shuck and Laub out of his Oct. 4 email. Arendt didn’t answer when asked why she waited six days to forward Kelly’s email to Sawyer, Shuck and Laub. “I meant to send this (Kelly email) sooner, but forgot,” Arendt told Shuck and Sawyer in her Oct. 10 email. Sawyer said “it was very suspicious” that Kelly omitted him and Shuck from his email. “It was political in nature,” Sawyer said. “John Kelly endorsed Arendt and May when they ran previously. He is also endorsing (my and Shuck’s) opponents in this election.” On Oct. 12, Laub emailed all five board members, telling them he would be happy to discuss Kelly’s email with them. He said Kelly, as a citizen, had the right to express his opinion. “I am not going to go item by items to correct all of the misinformation in (Kelly’s) email, but please know that much of this is inaccurate,” Laub wrote. “This clearly goes beyond an opinion of not supporting retire-rehire and is a personal issue,” Laub wrote. “Regardless, it is clear this is a community member’s opinion against retire-rehire.” Laub didn’t respond when asked what in Kelly’s email was inaccurate.
