Olentangy leadership team named

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Raiff

Olentangy’s new superintendent has installed a new leadership team for the school district.

“With board of education support, I have elected to fill the open positions throughout the organization prior to the July 10 deadline that enables administrators to move between districts at will,” Mark Raiff said in a statement posted June 29 on the district’s website. “This allows us to most efficiently fill the number of open positions in the leadership team with high-quality, experienced, internal candidates.”

The internal transfers are:

• Jack Fette from director of curriculum to chief academic officer.

• Todd Meyer from principal at Orange High School to chief operations officer.

• Randy Wright from principal at Liberty High School to chief of administrative services.

• Peggy McMurry from principal at Scioto Ridge Elementary School to director of curriculum.

• Kathy McFarland from principal at Hyatts Middle School to principal at Orange High.

• Derrick Gilliam from assistant principal at Hyatts to principal at Hyatts.

• Bill Warfield from assistant principal at Liberty High to principal at Liberty High.

“My first challenge is in putting together a leadership team,” Raiff told The Gazette after he was announced as the new superintendent. “I have to replace myself as chief academic officer, and Gale Marsh as operations officer. He took a similar position in Dublin. We’ve got to get school opened in as smooth a manner as possible so that everybody understands it’s business as usual, focused on their mission of facilitating maximum learning for every student.”

In the statement, Raiff said the staff changes will save the the district $67,000 annually and $335,000 in the five-year forecast.

“I believe these steps and transfers will provide for an efficient transition and ensure district leadership stability from the start of the new administration,” he said. “In addition, I believe this is critical for the short- and long-term success of our organization. With the unique situation of a limited time window to hire a number of administrators, making the decision to hire immediately was the best option at this time. Moving forward, we have every intention of following our normal hiring practices and processes.”

Raiff, who has worked in the district for 12 years, was assistant principal at Olentangy High School, principal at Liberty High School and chief academic officer before being named superintendent. Raiff will succeed Wade Lucas, who is retiring at the end of August.

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