Dayton Public Schools’ Board of Education will find an interim superintendent for the upcoming school year, which starts on Aug. 14, district officials said Thursday. The board will discuss the process for for selecting that interim superintendent at their next board meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Belmont High School.
“We would like to sincerely thank her for her six years of service to the district,” Dayton school board President Chrisondra Goodwine said Thursday in an email to staff. “Dr. Lolli was a great leader for our students and staff, most recently being named the 2023 Ohio Superintendent of the Year. We wish her well in all future endeavors.”
Goodwine said in the email she “looked forward to sharing more as details are finalized.” Neither Lolli nor Goodwine returned calls seeking comment on Thursday.
Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims already had an eye on the leadership turnover process Thursday, saying that having a successful school district is key for the development of the community.
Mims who served as a teacher, coach, teachers union president and school board president over a decades-long career in Dayton Public Schools, said he wished Lolli the best and hopes she can continue to prepare students for life outside of school.
“On that same note, I look forward to strengthening the relationship with school leaders to do the same thing for the city of Dayton,” Mims said.
Lakota is the largest suburban school district in southwest Ohio, with 17,500 students, over 5,000 more than DPS. Lolli is no stranger to Butler County, having been superintendent at Monroe and an administrator at Middletown.
“I am very excited to begin this new venture with Lakota Schools,” Lolli was quoted as saying in Lakota’s announcement. “I’ve always admired Lakota for the exceptional work their staff does for their students. I feel fortunate to be leading a district with such an influential presence and to be part of the work that will continue defining Lakota as a well-respected and future-ready school district.”
Lolli came to Dayton from Middletown schools as part of DPS’ leadership turnover in 2016, when Lori Ward left the district after six years as superintendent. Lolli started as associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction under Superintendent Rhonda Corr, but took over as acting superintendent a year later when Corr was pushed out.
As with most leaders of large organizations, Lolli has been criticized for some decisions and praised for others.
Lolli began hiring two teachers for each classroom in grades 1-3 in 2021 using federal COVID money, chopping student-teacher ratios so one teacher could teach math while the other taught reading. That lead to some academic recovery in 2021-2022, at a time when many schools were struggling to rebound. Like Ohio’s other urban high-poverty school districts, DPS still ranked low in achievement on state tests, but DPS’ scores in student progress improved some.
Other decisions by Lolli panned out worse, such as attacking the Ohio High School Athletic Association over a Dunbar basketball eligibility dispute in 2018. DPS ended up being wrong in that case, and Dunbar was banned from OHSAA competition. Some parents and teachers have also criticized her interactions with staff and the community and disagreed with the decision to conduct DPS classes virtually until March of 2021.
Lolli had planned for 2022-23 to be her last year, and announced in January that she was going to leave DPS this summer. That came months after the school board hired David Lawrence — a former DPS administrator who had been a candidate for the superintendent post in 2016 — as district business manager.
The school board put out a request for proposals for superintendent search firms in February, then re-issued another request on April 5. Goodwine said in April the board only got a handful of proposals the first time, most of which were not from search firms that worked with urban districts.
Then at a mid-April school board meeting, DPS board members approved a one-year contract extension for Lolli to remain superintendent, by a 4-3 vote, saying it needed more time to find her replacement.
At the time, Lolli agreed to stay on for an additional school year after her contract was set to expire on July 31.
In Lakota’s announcement, their school board President Lynda O’Connor said Lolli “has spent her 45-year career serving K-12 public education. Leaving her most recent post as superintendent of Dayton Public Schools for the last six years … Lolli has over 15 years of superintendent experience spanning urban and suburban districts of varying sizes.”
Lakota’s former superintendent, Matt Miller, resigned unexpectedly in January. Recently, the district has been led by Interim Superintendent Robb Vogelmann.
Late last week the Lakota board backed away from its original plan to hire a permanent superintendent from a collection of three finalists who had gone through board interviews and public Q & A sessions.
Lolli will begin work July 19 and will be paid an annual salary of $200,000. Lolli made $215,250 in 2022-2023 for Dayton Public, and was expected to receive the same amount of money in the next school year.
Now Dayton Public Schools has to decide who will guide the district in the short term, while also looking for a long-term leader.
“It has been a great honor to serve the students and families in DPS,” Lolli said in a district-released statement. “I appreciate the hard work by the staff and community to help Dayton become better over the past six years. I wish the district well.”
