ZCS down to four for superintendent

ZANESVILLE – The Zanesville City Schools Board of Education narrowed the 11 applicants for the new superintendent spot down to four.

Twelve applicants were granted interviews in the first round, but one withdrew before the process began, said Kathy LaSota, director of school board services for the Ohio School Board Association. The second round of interviews for the four applicants will take place on Monday and Wednesday.

The four applicants are:

•Charles Baker, assistant superintendent at New Philadelphia City Schools.

•James Brady, business manager at East Cleveland City Schools.

•Ann McVey, superintendent at Bowling Green City Schools.

•Brad Ritchey, director of data and testing at Parma City Schools.

After the second round of interviews, the board can either further narrow the pool of applicants to a final two and have a third round of interviews or it can decide who to hire from the four.

LaSota, who was contracted by the ZCS board to facilitate the search process for a new superintendent, said the process has been difficult because there are so many qualified candidates.

"This is an extremely difficult decision," she said. "All of the interviews were exceptional."

But having a difficult decision to make because of a large number of good applicants is the best possible outcome for a search process, LaSota said.

"For me, that is a a very positive thing and for the board it is a very positive thing," she said.

The new superintendent would start this summer. Current Superintendent Terry Martin had announced earlier this would be his last year.

ksnyder2@gannett.com

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Twitter: @KL_Snyder