Pickerington School Board Choosing Politics Over Results?
BY SHELBY HUNT
PICKERINGTON, Ohio – At the April 24, 2023 school board meeting for Pickerington Local School District, three new administrators with questionable records were unanimously approved by the board; without any probative questions asked of the candidates by the board members.
Megan Davis will now be Assistant Principal at Sycamore Creek Elementary with a salary of $80,250, while Shelia Evans will take her position as Principal at Ridgeview STEM Junior High School with a salary of $119,500. Trent Miller will be taking his post as Assistant Principal at Fairfield Elementary with a salary of $87,025. Each of these candidates are on a two-year contract with an effective start date of August 1, 2023.
According to LinkedIn profiles, Megan Davis comes from the neighboring Canal Winchester Local School District where she has served as dean of students for approximately the past 2-years and as a fifth-grade math teacher for 5 years before that with no specific school location given. The Ohio Department of Education ranked Canal Winchester Local School District 326 of 860 based on performance index as of September 15, 2022.
Sheila Evans is and has been the principal of Sherwood Middle School within Columbus City Schools for approximately the past 5 years and the assistant principal at Johnson Park Middle School in the 6 years prior. Columbus City Schools has a performance index ranking of 738 of 860 and the individual schools of Sherwood Middle School has a performance index ranking of 2,906 of 3,330 with a one-star rating out of five and Johnson Park Middle School has a performance rating of 3,284 of 3,330 with a one-star achievement rating.
Trent Miller comes from Dayton Public Schools where he has been serving as assistant principal for approximately the last 2 years, though no specific school location has been given. Prior to that, Trent worked for The Management Council of the Ohio Education Computer Network for one year and as an assistant principal for Lima City Schools for just over five years. Dayton City Schools has a performance index ranking of 775 of 860 and Lima City Schools is ranked 683 of 860.
While individuals are not responsible for the entirety of the districts they have worked for, they are an integral part of what the rankings reflect. It may have served the public interest to have asked the candidates some questions related to how they will benefit Pickerington Local School District which has a performance index rating of 240 of 860, given the closet district among the new hires is rated 86 places below Pickerington.
One may ask what qualifications these candidates come to the district with outside of their districts performance metrics. Candidate Sheila A Evans’ Facebook page was found with profile updates in support of Black Lives Matter from June 2, 2020, just after the start of the summer riots, with the image of the fist and text stating “As a school leader, I believe that #BlackLivesMatter” and another from that same date with the image of the fist overlaying the LGBTQ rainbow flag.
These beg several questions as to who and what possible agenda is at play within the Pickerington Local School District. Is the school board vetting these candidates from lower-performing districts; and at least one of those candidates openly tying their job as a “teacher” with controversial organizations, or is the superintendent making these recommendations? If the superintendent is making them, why?
This is especially puzzling since three of the current school board members, Clay Lopez, Vanessa Niekamp, & JD Postage, who recently ran together for re-election/election, positioned themselves as “conservative” when Vanessa Niekamp campaigned and spoke for the trio before concerned citizens in Fairfield County.
