The Akron Board of Education voted narrowly Monday to accept the resignation of embattled Superintendent Michael Robinson after an investigation found credible numerous allegations that he had bullied staff and created a toxic work environment.
Just minutes later, after an already lengthy meeting, the board narrowly voted to hire Mary Outley as the district's permanent superintendent, pending contract negotiations. Outley had been picked by the board on April 15 as interim superintendent after it placed Robinson on paid leave.
It was a stunning and rapid-fire series of events that capped a chaotic period at the school district under Robinson, who'd been on the job for less than two years. Under the agreement reached with the board, he will receive a payout of $200,000 in exchange for releasing any legal claims against the district. Robinson was the district鈥檚 third superintendent in the last five years.
Robinson's resignation
Board members Barbara Sykes, Gregory Harrison and Rene Molenaur voted against the resignation agreement due to what Sykes called its high cost, at a time when the district is struggling financially. The final vote was 4-3.
"To break our policies, to violate our policies, one (Robinson) who should have been enforcing the policies, I absolutely cannot do this,鈥� Sykes said.
The investigation relied on interviews with 16 current and former employees and an unnamed number of other witnesses. It described Robinson as a vindictive person who berated others for perceived slights, who said he was religiously "anointed" and failed to recognize that his leadership style caused harm.
In interviews with investigators, Robinson denied allegations that his leadership and communication styles were offensive or that he retaliated against employees. He said staff was not accustomed to being held to high standards and stated the teachers union and media conspired to publish negative stories about him. Ideastream Public Media has been unable to contact him independently.
Harrison said the investigation revealed serious issues with Robinson's judgment, hence his desire for the district to separate from Robinson without any kind of compensation.
"The whole report was not anonymous," Harrison said. "Dr. Robinson called our kids 'ghetto.' That's something he admitted to in the report... Dr. Robinson made disparaging remarks about a board member's children. Children, which we know typically is off limits."
The board member in question was Molenaur. Harrison cited part of the investigation in which a witness said Robinson made threatening statements about Molenaur, who had reported concerns about Robinson's behavior in 2024.
"This witness reported Dr. Robinson saying, 'She better watch out, she has kids.' When questioned about this during his interview, Dr. Robinson admitted saying, to Dr. Molenaur herself, that if Dr. Molenaur 'doesn鈥檛 live long enough' that her 'children, and her children鈥檚 children' will reap what she sows."
Molenaur took umbrage with accusations that the investigation relied on "anonymous sources."
"The people who were involved in this investigation were real human beings who went to a real office and spoke to a real team of attorneys," she said. "That is not anonymous. That is confidential."
Board president Carla Jackson said the cost of the payout to Robinson increased significantly after a document was leaked to the press explaining the district's strategy to fire or seek Robinson's resignation. However, she noted Robinson had roughly $900,000 in salary left in his contract if he were to be paid out. She said the board also avoided potentially lengthy legal proceedings if it were to instead fire him "for cause," which could have involved a state hearing with witnesses called.
"Based off of the investigation, based off of information that was shared, many are in agreement that to pay a person with these documented alleged misbehaviors $200,000 seems almost ridiculous and egregious," she said. "But when rogue things happened, which has happened in this board, and that privileged document was shared, and then the other counsel was able to see this, it changed the trajectory of this negotiation."
Robinson was controversial during his time at the district, especially with regard to the Akron Education Association, the teachers union. The union filed unfair labor practices against Robinson and the administration frequently and accused him of attempting to bust the union.
Mary Outley's rapid promotion
As the board was moving to adjourn the meeting after accepting Robinson's resignation, board member Diana Autry made a motion to appoint Mary Outley as the new superintendent. The board hotly debated the necessity of appointing somebody so soon after accepting the resignation of the previous superintendent, without a standard search process which typically takes months. But Autry did not rescind her motion, which ultimately was approved along the same lines as the vote to accept Robinson's resignation.
Autry said the move to hire Outley without hiring a search firm will save the district money and will provide much needed continuity.
"As we talk about stability and moving forward, there's no time like the present," Autry argued. "And so I am confident in Mary Outley and what she has done and can continue to do for us. And the district and the community deserves stability."
Outley has worked at APS for 34 years, and was born and raised in Akron, starting out as a teacher. She was previously chosen as the board's interim superintendent after Robinson's predecessor, Christine Fowler-Mack, resigned. Fowler-Mack also had a strained relationship with the board, and the teachers union had also criticized her leadership.
Sykes said that the selection of the next superintendent deserved far more thought; she said she wasn't opposed to Outley's leadership but said the board should have taken its time to come to such a big decision.
"We should look for the very best applicants that we could," Sykes said. "We should have taken our time, and been respectful of the process, thoughtful, while also being respectful of the interim superintendent, but most importantly, of the district and the taxpayers."
Jackson declined to say if the board should have waited on hiring a new superintendent or not in an interview after the meeting.
"She (Outley) has the relationships, she has the time, she has the experience and now she's sitting in the interim seat again," Jackson said. "I think it's important for the district to get some level of continuity and consistency because we're constantly in flux."
Prior to voting no, Harrison said he wasn't disputing Outley's qualifications but rather, the process.
"This is a half billion dollar business. We don't run a half-billion dollar business on feelings," he said. "This is not our money. We don't run this district like it's our personal money. It's not. This is taxpayers money. And we owe it to the taxpayers to do due diligence."
Outley said she was ready to serve the district and its students despite the unusually quick hiring process.
"This is a district that I love and I grew up in, and I also have family within the Akron Public Schools, and so I'm invested. And so I am here for the long run, and I just want to make sure that we succeed," she said.
The board's next regularly scheduled meeting is on May 12.