The Akron City Council on Monday debated a resolution in support of Akron Public Schools Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack following her controversial evaluation by the school board.
The council met virtually and discussed a resolution sponsored by Mayor Dan Horrigan, Council President Margo Sommerville and three other council members: Ward 1’s Nancy Holland, at-large representative Ginger Baylor, and Ward 10’s Sharon Connor.
The mayor’s sponsorship of the legislation marks his first public comment on the school board since the release of the evaluation.
As read aloud during the meeting, the resolution was “expressing council support for Akron Public Schools Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack, urging the Akron Public Schools Board of Education to withdraw and revisit its remarks criticizing superintendent Fowler Mack.”
All of council was present for the discussion, but the rules committee voted 5-0 on taking more time to consider the resolution and for possible revisions to the language. It will be brought back to the committee at a later date, Sommerville said.
School board President N.J. Akbar did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment after the meeting Monday afternoon, but said in a previous statement regarding reaction to the evaluation that the job of supervising and assessing the superintendent “is the sole responsibility of the Board of Education and no other entity is granted that authority.”
The representatives debated whether it was the City Council’s place, particularly in such a public way, to take a stance on a matter involving another elected body. Some members said they believed conversations should happen privately and one-on-one with Akbar and Fowler Mack.
But others said the city and its residents had a vested interest in the matter, and the level of concern was great enough to speak out.
Evaluation comments spark reaction
The discussion came a week after the Beacon Journal published school board members’ comments in Fowler Mack’s first evaluation since becoming superintendent last year.
In the evaluation, four board members wrote mostly positive comments, but three, including leadership, issued significant criticism. Akbar’s choice of words also caused a backlash, and were the focus of much of the discussion Monday.
Akbar called Fowler Mack, the district’s first woman and first Black woman leader, “insubordinate” and her first year “a failure,” and said she was a barrier to progress and intentionally misled board members.
“This relationship has completely failed solely due to her unwillingness, inflexibility and resistance which is quite irreparable,” Akbar said.
At a school board meeting the next day, Akbar said he was reflective and, “In hindsight, I could have written alternative language in the evaluation to share my assessment.”
He also said the evaluation, which is a public document, was a personnel matter and would be discussed further between the board and the superintendent.
In the days following, nine former school board members, including Baylor, signed a letter decrying efforts to “micromanage and undermine” the superintendent.
In an interview with the Beacon Journal, Marco Sommerville, Akron’s deputy mayor for intergovernmental affairs, called Akbar’s language “character assassination” and “a big disappointment.”
Other City Council members have also weighed in individually, but Monday’s discussion was their first as a group on the topic.
Some hesitant to interfere in school board business
Ward 4 Councilman Russ Neal said Akbar had apologized for his language, and that the school board should be free to operate without outside influence.
“We cannot be ignorant of the institutional practices within this city that when folks are in leadership that may have an independent thought, there are moves to undermine them,” Neal said.
City Council, he said, has enough of its own issues to tackle.
“The school board members haven’t gotten into our issues or personnel matters; we should not be getting into theirs,” Neal said. “We have business of our own that we haven’t handled that we have to handle.”
A handful of other council members agreed, and were reluctant to meddle in another board’s business.
Ward 5 council representative Tara Mosley said she was concerned a council resolution would make the situation worse, and wanted to see the board president and the superintendent come together to move forward.
“I think we need to give them an opportunity to work through that,” Mosley said. “I really do. I think if we really care about this district and that it moves forward, I think we need to give them an opportunity to right this ship.”
At-large representative Linda Omobien said as a former school board member, she found it “offensive … when other people started doing the work of trying to manage something that didn’t belong to them.”
“I too was just as shocked and hurt and found all of this language (being) public and things said offensive, and I have spoken to Dr. Akbar about it and, again, as I said, I will be talking to Mrs. Fowler Mack,” Omobien said. “But I plan to do it privately. Because I think that is where I can do my best work.”
Sponsors of council resolution make their case
But council President Sommerville said the resolution is not about getting into the business of Akron’s schools, but supporting a fellow leader during a tough time.
“We know that there might be some issues, right? We know there might be some things that our superintendent needs to improve on, and that the board needs to improve on, and we know that constructive criticism is helpful, right, because we all benefit from that,” Sommerville said. “But it is the way that we do it, and we should do it in a respectful way.”
She said when she first read Akbar’s words, she “cringed.”
“There were some really strong and hurtful words that were used, when we’re referring to the first African American woman superintendent, and to call her a liar, insubordinate and a failure, is really, really troubling,” she said.
Despite Akbar saying he could have used different language, Sommerville said “the problem is you cannot walk those words back. So the words have been said, the destruction has happened.”
Holland said given the public’s interest — in seeing a successful school district in Akron, and in the evaluation specifically — there was reason for the City Council to have a voice.
“And I don’t think it’s necessary for us to assume the role of some sort of external super human resources office to weigh in on this,” Holland said. “And to encourage (the) next right thing. Particularly when we’re talking about a relatively recently hired, carefully hired, objectively qualified first-ever female superintendent of the Akron Public Schools.”
Connor said as a mother and grandmother, she preaches the need to be kind.
“We say it over and over again, and they look to us for those examples of kindness,” Connor said. “And that did not happen. As a public official, we know that anything we put on paper is subject to being put in the headline of the Beacon Journal. And words hurt and words matter.”
Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.
