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BROOKFIELD -- Having served as a teacher, coach and principal for the Brookfield Local School District, Toby Gibson now will have a new title, as he was named the new superintendent on Wednesday.
The Board of Education at a special meeting granted Gibson a three-year, 260-day administrative contract at $88,000 annually, effective Aug. 1.
Gibson will replace Valina Jo Taylor, who is leaving July 31 to become the new superintendent for Lakeview schools with the retirement of Robert Wilson this summer.
Board President Ronda Bonekovic said Gibson was selected from 26 applicants, including high school principal Adam Lewis. She said Gibson's knowledge of the district and years with Brookfield was a key factor in the board's decision.
"We had many good applicants. It was a long process," she said, noting Gibson is a township resident and attended Brookfield schools.
Gibson was elementary principal when the district opened the new school complex. Bonekovic said Gibson has worked with Taylor and Treasurer Craig Yaniglos to become familiar with the position.
"He has his boots on the ground and is ready to roll," she said.
Gibson said he was excited about the opportunity to serve as superintendent.
"This is a dream come true. I appreciate the opportunity and look forward to the challenges facing us and working with the great students and staff," Gibson said.
In other business, the board approved a shared services technology contract with Madison Local Schools in Lake County for $80,000 effective Aug. 1. Madison will provide the district two part-time technology personnel who will work six-hour days, with one starting early in morning to assist staff before school starts and one starting later in the school day to assist staff after school.
Yaniglos said the district will see a $15,000 cost savings with the agreement and noted Madison schools has shared services agreements with nine districts, enabling it to get discounts on technology purchases such as Chromebooks, carts, parts and supplies.
"We can save money on salaries and benefits working with other school districts. We will have the coverage that we need with two people providing more coverage for longer times of the day. They have purchasing power buying for nine districts, which will mean savings," he said.
Yaniglos said if the district is not happy with the contract, they can give a 30-day notice to get out of it. However, he said none of the other districts have canceled Madison's services.
With the shared services agreement, the board was going to place district technology supervisor Jason Russo on the reduction in force list, but he attended the meeting and submitted his resignation, stating he was not pleased at the direction the board was taking and he plans to accept another job.
"This is a job I have greatly enjoyed," Russo said.
However, he questioned the supposed cost savings through the agreement with Madison and said that as technology supervisor, he had no input in the decision to join the consortium.
"This is money taken from Brookfield taxpayers to remove their own technology employee. The future of the district has yet to be determined by doing this. I ask you to consider all the information I have provided before putting our technology department in the hands of another school district that is nearly an hour away," he said.
The motion to accept Russo's resignation and the reduction in force matter were both tabled until the June 26 meeting. Bonekovic said with reduction in force, an employee can be brought back to the district.
Resident Sarah Kirby asked the board to have some evaluation in place to see how the Madison technology staff does serving the district. She questioned how Madison can handle nine districts.
bcoupland@tribtoday.com