COLUMBUS, Ohio — The search for Ohio’s next education superintendent is down to seven candidates who the State Board of Education will interview this month, officials announced Friday.
What You Need To Know
- Seven candidates are in the running for the position
- The board will interview candidates April 11-12
- Ohio's interim superintendent did not apply for the role
The board is interviewing for a permanent replacement after former Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria stepped down in the fall. The next superintendent will take over duties from Stephanie Siddens, interim education superintendent, who did not apply for the role.
The State Board of Education released the names of the seven candidates in a news release: Stephen Dackin, Larry Hook, Thomas Hosler, Finn Laursen, David Quattrochi, Kimberly Richey and Ronnie Tarchichi.
The field of candidates vying to lead the Ohio Department of Education was narrowed from a group of more than two dozen candidates who applied for this position, which was reported by the Columbus Dispatch, a Spectrum News partner.
Dackin, formerly the vice president of the State Board of Education, resigned from the board in February, Cleveland.com reported. He resigned from his position as the superintendent of school and community partnerships for Columbus State Community College in December to focus on his board responsibilities, including the superintendent search, which he said he had been asked to lead.
Among the remaining candidates are several superintendents of Ohio public school districts, including Hook, the superintendent of the Springboro Community City School District, Hosler, superintendent of Perrysburg Exempted Village Schools, Quattrochi, superintendent of the Carrollton Exempted Village School District. Tarchichi is the superintendent of Pennsauken Public Schools in New Jersey.
The board will interview the candidates in executive session at its meeting scheduled for April 11-12, officials said.
Laursen is the educational consultant for the Christian Educators Association International, which is a professional association "committed to promoting Judeo-Christian values in public, private and Christian schools." He was a public schools education in Ohio for more than three decades.
Richey was as an acting assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights when Betsy DeVos was the U.S. education secretary. She recently worked as president of RealignEd, LLC, an education consulting firm.