The saying, “A fish rots from the head down,” colorfully suggests that bad leaders cause an organization harm. A prime example is C. Michael Robinson’s tenure as superintendent of Akron Public Schools.

I wrote in July 2023 that the unqualified candidate had been hubristically rammed through a hiring process in the final months of then-school board president Derrick Hall’s tenure despite several community leaders urging the board to wait until after that fall’s election.  

Robinson proved a poor choice from the get go. Six months into his tenure, I mentioned in a column feeling like a bookie because of how many people with a connection to the district gave me unsolicited opinions on how long he would last. The majority indicated 18 to 24 months, which wasn’t far off. 

Several local media outlets, including this paper and its education reporter, Jennifer Pignolet, provided excellent coverage of Robinson’s toxic leadership throughout his tenure. Robinson’s churlishness caused unnecessary upheaval in the district. Like bombs going off in the middle of a famine, the needs of the district’s students were neglected in order to deal with Robinson’s chronic explosions. Volumes of data exist on how COVID devastated the educations of K-12 students. Robinson’s tenure only exacerbated that devastation for Akron’s students. Repairing the damage he caused will take years.

Given the extremity and viciousness of Robinson’s attacks —h e stated God would punish one board member and her children because she had the temerity to ask relevant questions before a board meeting and expect answers —i t is understandable why some community and school board members did not want to give him a severance package. But court hearings over his dismissal without severance would have extended the drama. It was wise to spend $200,000 to be done with Robinson immediately and forever — a rotten head suddenly cleaved from the body it was destroying. 

The move to promote interim superintendent Mary Outley to superintendent was also prudent. I wrote in 2023 that she, while a valued administrator, was not the ideal candidate at that time. She is now. A nationwide search of candidates for superintendent would have taken time and money that is better spent pivoting to the planning and implementation of educational best practices for Akron’s students. In immediately choosing Outley, the district has someone who knows the community, the problems facing our schools and who could step in immediately. Also, it allows the board to focus on the pressing matters facing the district without being absorbed by a hiring process. 

Speaking of the board, it understandably has focused lately on how to fund the construction of two new buildings —North High School and a combined Pfeiffer Elementary and Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts. But addressing student deficits in reading and mathematics is woefully overdue. For too long, APS has suffered a weak board and several members who are up for reelection this fall should be replaced. Most newer board members have shown mettle and show up to meetings having read the materials on the agenda, which seems reasonable but is not always the case. Significant work needs to occur and APS cannot afford a single board member who regularly phones it in.

When Robinson was installed as superintendent, the federal funding for ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) was still flowing to states to help K-12 students recover from COVID-related educational losses. At the time, I was one of eight tutors at the APS elementary building where I work. ESSER funds ended in September 2023 and in the school year that just ended, the building had only four tutors. Next year it is slated for two. And yet anyone who works in the building will tell you eight tutors are needed as the learning deficits are that dire. Given President Trump’s recent gutting of the Department of Education, more school funding cuts likely are coming.

As a parent of a child with Down syndrome who has greatly benefitted from APS’s SAIL (Students Achieve Independent Learning) program, changes in the past two years are concerning. Created by former APS special education director Tammy Brady before she retired, SAIL has lost its original integrity under new leadership that, in all fairness, was reporting to a superintendent who was no advocate of disabled students.

Where our schools go, so goes our city. Now that the telenovela drama of the Robinson administration has ended, I call on Akron’s public, non-profit and governmental leaders, along with all citizens, to work immediately and continuously on righting the ship that is Akron Public Schools. Our children deserve no less. 

This was first published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Sunday, June 15, 2025.