Days after the Akron Public Schools superintendent told the school board he doesn't always feel supported in his role, the board passed a resolution in support of Michael Robinson and attributed many recent successes in the district to his leadership.
The resolution was titled, "Resolution proclaiming the excellent progress of the Akron Public School District and congratulating scholars, staff and the superintendent on their accomplishments."
The board "recognizes that the community has recently heard negative stories about Akron Public Schools," the resolution states, and is "proud of the progress made by scholars in the Akron Public School District under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Robinson."
The resolution said the board "hereby formally recognizes and congratulates scholars, staff, and the Superintendent on the outstanding progress that has been made under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Robinson," and "reaffirms the excellent performance evaluation of Superintendent Dr. Robinson and encourages him to continue the positive progress and momentum he has established within the District."
The resolution included a long list of new programs or data improvements across the district over the last year, and attributed them to Robinson's leadership.
The vote to pass the resolution was 5-0, with board member Rene Molenaur abstaining. She said she had not seen the resolution until it was introduced at the beginning of the meeting and had not had a chance to properly review it.
The resolution comes two days after a school board retreat with Robinson, where he was asked ahead of time by a consultant to write a list of expectations he had for the board. The consultant read the list out loud to the board. They were also displayed on a screen.
"Respect me - not treat me like I'm a criminal," Robinson wrote. "Trust me. I don't feel valued, trusted, or respected."
He said that he feels like "it's a 'gotcha' with everything" and that "I don't feel the board makes time to understand who I am as the superintendent and ALL the work I actually do over and beyond the call of duty."
"Allow me to be the superintendent and then respect me and not work with other entities that want to see me fail," Robinson wrote. "This creates a hostile environment. I would like for my work to be respected. The evaluation process was stressful and became personal. I would like to feel that I am not in an atmosphere of 'fear.'"
He also said "I don't always feel supported" and "I don't feel as comfortable as I did upon my arrival."
Robinson's comments during the retreat were met with silence from the board. He did not elaborate further after the consultant, who was leading the board workshop, read his comments out loud.
It's not clear when Robinson wrote the comments. The Beacon Journal reached out for comment to the superintendent's office Monday afternoon.
At the start of the board meeting Monday night, President Diana Autry said there was a proposed resolution to add to the agenda. The board voted 5-0, with Molenaur abstaining, to move it onto the agenda.
Autry later read it into the record ahead of the vote, but again Molenaur said she had not had time to thoroughly review it.
Autry said after the meeting the resolution was in response to several media articles showing the board and district in a negative light, not to the superintendent's statements.
She said it was important the community is clear the board does support the superintendent.
When asked why she believed the superintendent would say he was treated "like a criminal," Autry said one example was the lawsuit from the teachers' union alleging someone had tampered with the video feed from a board meeting. That lawsuit was dropped. But it's not clear why Robinson would have referred to that when listing his expectations for the board.
Tensions on the board have been high of late. A letter Molenaur wrote to her board colleagues in July accused the superintendent of bullying her. She said he had not provided answers to questions, had accused her of being a "backstabber" and a "headache" and had yelled at her during a meeting loudly enough that people on the outside texted her to see if she was OK.
Robinson told the Beacon Journal he remembered that meeting "differently," and that he does not yell.
Molenaur's concerns did prompt two lines to be added to Robinson's evaluation about the need to work on professional communication.
Other board members have also pushed back on Robinson at times, including board member Barbara Sykes, who last month accused the superintendent of going around the board's votes .
Akron school board resolution credits superintendent with recent successes
The resolution Monday night applauded Robinson for several actions, including creating the department of Human Capital, launching full-day pre-kindergarten and increasing enrollment this school year.
The resolution also credited Robinson with some of the recent district successes that were in the works for years before he arrived. Stating first, "under Dr. Robinson's leadership the Akron Public School District has had great success in the following areas," the resolution next applauded Robinson for the district's increased graduation rate , which is a statistic that lags a year behind, meaning it was for the class of 2023 — before Robinson arrived in Akron.
The resolution also cited the fact that 47% of Akron high school students earned at least 12 points worth of industry credentials last year, compared to 19.5% at the state level, the result of over a decade of work boosting the district's College and Career Academies.
In his written comments that were shared during the retreat, Robinson tried to impress upon the board how he had only been here for one year, and that it would take more time to see the results of the changes he had made.
"Give me a chance to make changes and let me gain the data, so I can prove that our changes can and are working," Robinson wrote. "Consider that I have only been here one year. I don't think the board understands this. It will take me about 2 years to begin to see the results."
Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Days after Akron superintendent says 'respect me,' board passes resolution of support
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