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Clay Rehires Mantell as Superintendent

The Clay Local School District Board of Education held its monthly meeting last week and decided to rehire Superintendent Tony Mantell for another two years, making him superintendent for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic school years.


He was rehired just last year, after taking out his retirement. He was previously rehired with a one-year contract because standard protocol states when a superintendent retires and gets rehired he or she will serve a one-year term to see if their work is adequate. Now that he has served his one year term, they can extend a two-year proposal to him, which he has accepted.

Mantell has a history of work with many local schools, such as Glenwood, Notre Dame, Minford and Wheelersburg. He has taught, coached, worked as principal and began serving as superintendent 14 years ago at Clay Local Schools. Mantell said his career at Clay is the longest he has worked at a school and is glad to be continuing his work there.

“I’ve had an enjoyable time here,” Mantell stated. “We’ve had a lot of experiences. We are a district who has never been a wealthy district, as a standpoint of having money to operate. State formulas have changed throughout the years, but have never been beneficial to us. We’ve had money struggles from time to time, but we’ve held up well and have been blessed with a wonderful community who supported us with the new building.”

Mantell said that the highlight of his career was being able to see the new school built, which he believes brings a lot to the community and education of local students.

“I think the building itself lends itself, with all the technology and general atmosphere, to better educate students,” Mantell said. “Teachers are like craftsmen and I think we’ve been able to give them better tools to work with.”

Mantell said that the board voting to rehire him tells him that he is doing at least an adequate job. He believes his philosophies play a role in his productivity as superintendent. Mantell went on to say that he isn’t a kindergarten teacher or a bus driver, so he doesn’t try to tell them how to do their job. Mantell stated that he leaves people to do their own job and focuses on his own, getting more done and allowing things to be done right.

“What I’ve always tried to do is to let the teachers and employees do their jobs to the best of their abilities. That might seem kind of cliché, but I really, sincerely mean that. Our people have done a really good job, which I believe is a good reflection of the teachers, the board and sometimes they might make me look good enough to be rehired. I just appreciate the ability of everyone here and in the community to work together,” said Mantell.

Mantell said that the standards for evaluation teachers and principals have changed in Ohio. He also said that Clay is beginning the implementation of the common core standards for education. These new changes are going to be the focuses of what Mantell works on in the next two years.

“I think sometimes we look for words and fancy terms and things like that, but I’m a pretty down to earth kind of guy, a blue collar guy. My main goal is that we survive as a district in difficult monetary times. Number two, which probably should be number one, is to make sure the children who go here receive the best education and opportunities that we can possibly give them,” he said.

Mantell said that the survival of the district comes first, because longevity brings the ability to educate more students over time. While his goal is to survive economic hardship, Mantell believes the educational opportunities have never been in question for his students. He also said that recent budget cuts have left them with cutting personnel, but he believes those times are behind Clay and they are moving forward.

Source:  Pratt, Joseph. "Clay Rehires Mantell as Superintendent."  Portsmouth-dailytimes.com.  24 Feb. 2014.  25 Feb. 2014 <http://portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/news/3101381/Clay-rehires-Mantell-as-superintendent>.

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