When Craig Chapman was named superintendent for Columbus Municipal School District in December, he did the job largely alone, with a central office full of vacancies.
Regardless, the board of trustees has “constantly seen improvements” in the district since then, leading trustees to extend Chapman’s superintendent contract through 2029 following an evaluation earlier this week, Board President Robert Smith told The Dispatch on Thursday. One of those improvements was filling all of the vacant administrative positions.
“As far as the grading scale, it’s on a 4.0 scale. So he graded out with a 3.786, and we just rounded off to a 3.8,” Smith said of the evaluation. “We’re happy with what we have right now.”
The decision adds three years to what was at first an 18-month contract. The new contract, running from Aug. 1 to August 2029, carries the same annual salary of $160,000, Smith said.
When the 18-month contract was offered in December, Smith would not divulge why the board offered such a short term. On Thursday, he said it was always the plan to revisit extending Chapman’s contract sooner than his 2027 evaluation.
Chapman told The Dispatch he’s excited to have the board’s support in leading the district, which he said is on a rise especially as administration prepares for teachers and students to arrive next week.
“There’s a lot of excitement coming from the team about some of the decisions we’re making, conversations we’re having with each other, just the collaboration,” he said. “… We’re hoping to continue and carry that momentum to the buildings when the teachers return to try to provide them as much support as we can, so they can be successful.”
Smith said the board felt especially compelled by Chapman’s leadership and organization in the central office, noting efforts to staff vacant administrative positions.
The district started the 2025-2026 school year – for the beginning of which Chapman was serving as interim superintendent and assistant superintendent of operations – with about seven vacant administrative positions in central office. Now, all of those positions are filled, Public Information Officer Joey Barnes confirmed Friday.
“We are farther along, much farther along than we were when we started last year,” Chapman told The Dispatch. “… (We’re) really getting a good team on board, … and I think everybody is understanding and learning their department. So I feel that we’re moving in a good direction.”
Chapman told the board there’s still work to do as far as filling teacher positions, particularly in second and third grades.
As students return to school this month, Chapman said he’s spent the last few weeks working with building principals to prepare teachers, particularly in schools that have shifted to grade-span learning. The upcoming school year marks the first the district will group students by grade level across campuses, a change prompted by the district’s 5-year strategic plan, which runs through 2027.
“We know (that strategic plan) is coming to an end soon, so we are preparing to start the next phase of extending the strategic plan,” he told the board. “You’ll be made aware when we start that process.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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