Treasurer Julie Sloan said the administrative team at Brookfield Local School District has “worked wonderfully together.”
She said this the day her resignation was accepted, one part of a major reshuffling in the administrative ranks.
Aside from Sloan, Adam Lewis, the district’s director of teaching, learning and accountability, also has resigned. High School Principal Kristen Foster has been named to take over Lewis’ role, and an outsider, Megan Marino, has been hired as the new high school principal.
The school board was to interview treasurer candidates privately July 28. Sloan, whose resignation was effective July 31, will stay on in an as-needed basis through Aug. 31.
Lewis, the former Brookfield High principal, was looking to relocate and got a job with Cloverleaf Local School District, a school about twice the size of Brookfield that is west of Akron. He will be curriculum and instruction director there.
“The people here, it’s bittersweet,” Lewis said. “I’m excited that I have the opportunity but, at the same time, so many great relationships that I’ve made here, and I have not felt that way, because I’ve worked in a few different districts, I’ve not felt that way except here. That’s really hard to leave. I feel like we’ve got unfinished business. We’ve done a lot, but we still have unfinished business here.”
Sloan was not looking to leave, but representatives of Howland schools reached out to her.
“When you get a great opportunity, I believe that you shouldn’t ignore it,” she said.
“I have truly loved being here,” Sloan said. “I really have. I wasn’t looking, but I had a great opportunity presented and I also believe things happen for a reason. I have been very happy here. I’m not leaving because I’m mad. To be honest, there’s some sadness that’s going with this.”
She said she believes she’s been a part of great things that were accomplished at Brookfield.
“The district’s in a really great place right now financially,” Sloan said.
Sloan will be paid $33.82 an hour for her part-time work.
“Julie, I just wanted to wish you the best of luck,” said teacher union President Mary Arp. “I really wish you weren’t leaving. I have to acknowledge your professionalism, because this is the first time in a long time that I worked with a treasurer who was so professional.”
Foster was hired as principal the summer of 2019. Before that, she was assistant principal, and has taught first grade, computer literacy and middle school English language arts and social studies. The school board awarded her a three-year contract at $92,202 a year.
“I know she’s gonna do a great job,” said school board member Melissa Sydlowski. “I think she’s fabulous.
Marino has a “very impressive” resume, said Supt. Toby Gibson and school board member Derek Mihalcin. She has been Warren City School’s supervisor of school improvement for seven years, and was an assistant principal at Harding High School before that. She was a teacher and administrator at Like Skills Center of Trumbull County, and a high school social studies teacher in Arkansas, where she is from.
“She has a lot of administrative experience,” Gibson said.
Marino will be paid $90,368 a year under a two-year contract.
