Hypothesis: What's up with the special executive session?

Our FHSD school board met last night in a special executive session, which followed the two executive sessions held on the night of the August board meeting. 

The topic: ​Employment or Compensation of a public official.  

The team at AdvocateFHSD discussed, and came up with a working hypothesis, based on input from former board members and community members. We’ve had our eye on actions around these two contracts since late last year — which inspired our January blog post —  since the board is only responsible for hiring the two roles of Treasurer and Superintendent. 

The Forest Hills School District Board of Education has approved contract updates for nearly everyone employed by the district, the only remaining contracts to discuss would be those for the Treasurer and Superintendent, both of whom have contracts ending next year, 2025.
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Responsible leadership would consider risk vs. impact to the district with any significant decision to extend or terminate a contract. 

District Superintendent Larry Hook and District Treasurer Alana Cropper

We hypothesize that the board may be discussing an extension for Mr Hook, and a termination of the Treasurer, based on conversations we had at the end of the year in 2023. Speaking with former board members from previous terms, several advised that Sara Jonas, Katie Stewart and Bob Bibb still had intent to remove people who had been hired during previous board terms. Our sources suggested that Jonas’ strategy to block future board members from making hiring decisions that they would not make themselves if they were unable to be re-elected, or should seats for future Republican party candidates fail in 2025.  We reached out to Board President Jonas for comment today, as of the publication time, we have not heard back. We will update if we receive a comment or quote.

The Superintendent

Three members of the current board were part of the decision to hire Larry Hook. Jonas, Bibb and Stewart along with 2022 School Board President Linda Hausfeld offered him a 3-year contract from 2022 for $180K, $15K higher than the salary the district paid Scot Prebles, the former Superintendent. This is not atypical — when a district needs to seek a replacement position in administration, they often end up having to pay more to replace the role. This predictable issue is a good reason many boards seek stability, not disruption, in the administrative staff. 

While Hook wasn’t the choice of the community — the 30 people that met the Superintendent candidates unanimously supported another candidate — he has served this board in all their efforts. This includes placing a levy on the 2023 ballot and providing information to the community, removal of the diversity mural at Nagel Middle School, attacking the personal libraries of teachers in classrooms, and continuing the embargo on Diversity Day — a student-led event to educate others through empathy on the challenges minority populations experience. Through his two-year tenure however, the district has continued to receive awards for performance and the district has remained a destination district for new families. 

While Board President Jonas may see retention of Hook as a personal achievement, the Superintendent works for the board, and should the board make-up change in November 2025, Hook would need to collaborate with the new board on their initiatives for school administration, regardless of party preference, or risk termination himself. 

The Treasurer

Hiring a new treasurer would be incredibly challenging, and likely costly to the district. 
In 2021, the Loveland City Schools treasurer resigned. Due to challenges hiring, Loveland has had an interim treasurer since August of 2021. In December 2023, Loveland announced the replacement, John Espy, formerly of Milford Exempted Village Schools at a salary of $148,000. It took Loveland over two years to find a full-time replacement. Milford has been seeking a replacement treasurer since January, and has instead decided to hire an interim treasurer, Allyn Unversaw. Unversaw will support the district through his company, 4U School Solutions LLC.  They will be offering interim treasurer services, leveraging their specialization in financial management for educational institutions. 

While the identification and hiring of a new treasurer is a challenge, it isn’t the only issue. Costs become top of mind as well. Articles do not specify what it costs for Milford to utilize a company vs. having a partner in the district, as we've enjoyed with Alana Cropper since 2018. Fees to outsource could run as high as double the salary they paid. As stated above, other nearby districts pay higher salaries and have fewer awards to show for their expenditure. For reference, Cropper’s salary is $132,000, compared to Loveland’s $148,000. Cropper was highly touted by the Cincinnati Enquirer when she joined FHSD. She has worked in local schools for decades and has since demonstrated that she exceeds expectations — winning state audit awards for the district every single year since she joined. 

We hypothesize that ousting Cropper is likely not an objective, evidence-based decision. In fact, it is one that ignores data and evidence, and leans far into personal preference of three of the current board members.

There simply isn’t a known reason to disrupt the status quo. The risks outweigh any perceived benefit. In addition to winning the Auditor of State award every year, Cropper can boast she’s personally spearheaded applications, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars for the district since 2018. Her many years of acclaimed work in southern Ohio allows her to have deep connections that support her awareness of federal funds, state funds, and the actions needed to obtain them. Additionally, without evidence, the board would need to concoct a reason to let Cropper go, such as forced accusations or opinion-based evaluations. We have requested genuine, objective performance evaluations — considering achievements of goals and objectives — through a public records request and will update the story as necessary.

If you have an opinion on the district’s decision to retain or terminate the contracts of either the Superintendent or the Treasurer, we encourage you to write the board at [email protected] or email board members individually at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].