The Columbus Municipal School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to extend Superintendent Cherie Labat’s contract to Oct. 14, 2023.
The decision, which was the last action the board took during a nearly four-hour meeting, followed an approximately hour-long executive session during which the board discussed the job performance of Labat and another district employee board members did not identify. Board members also voted to increase Labat’s salary from $150,000 to $175,000.
After the meeting, Labat said she was looking forward to continuing to work with the board.
“The board of trustees has worked really hard and we just want to progress forward knowing we can make some great decisions,” she said. “We’ve worked really hard to change the climate and the culture (in the district) and we’ll continue to work to improve academically.”
Labat was hired in June 2018 on a four-year contract, the maximum length under state law. The extension was the longest the board could provide under that law.
Labat was the district’s fourth superintendent since 2010, replacing Philip Hickman, who the board fired in February 2018.
One of Labat’s goals when she took over was to improve morale in the district, which had been rocked by several scandals during Hickman’s tenure. Morale was a key concern of district stakeholders — including parents, district staff and business leaders in the community — when the district was searching for a superintendent in 2018.
“That was one of the key takeaways from what the stakeholders had conveyed to the board in our meetings,” said board president Jason Spears, referring to a public meeting introducing Labat and two other candidates during the superintendent search.
He added multiple stakeholders have told board members they are happy with Labat at the district’s helm.
“We continue to receive ongoing feedback from various stakeholders,” he said. “Everyone seems to be in one accord based on her effort and her ability to improve it dramatically.”
Internet plan
The board also voted during its meeting to have board attorney David Dunn draft a memorandum of understanding with Columbus Light and Water officially entering into an agreement to provide district students with free internet access at home.
CMSD board members initially came up with the idea a year ago to pay CLW to use its existing fiber optic cable network to provide internet. CLW plans to broadcast the district’s internet from five sites: the Boys and Girls Club building on 14th Avenue North; the Townsend, Propst Park and Sandfield community centers; and East Columbus Gym.
CLW general manager Todd Gale said the next step is to conduct a propagation study ensuring each of those sites will provide adequate coverage for the district’s students.
“Then we’ll have to run the fiber,” he said. “Then we’ll hook the radios up and we’ll be on our way.”
He added CLW may have to extend some already existing fiber optic cables about a mile around East Columbus Gym, but for the most part the infrastructure needed to provide internet to the students is already in place.
Though costs are still preliminary, Labat and Spears said the total cost would be $160,000 over five years, which the district will pay at $1,500 per month. If that cost changes, Spears and Dunn said during the meeting, the board can still change or back out of the agreement before CLW accrues any construction or installation costs.
Gale said right now the $160,000 appears to cover all the district’s costs, including equipment.
Spears said it will be several months before the service is ready for students as CLW installs further equipment. In the meantime, he said, the district plans to hold public meetings for parents and students explaining how the new service will work.
“It may be toward the end of this year, but hopefully it will be fully operational by the next school year.”
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