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Community speakers defend Joseph M. Gallagher principal as board approves nonrenewal resolutions
Summary
Parents, staff and former students urged the board to retain the principal of Joseph M. Gallagher (referred to by speakers as Mr. Kobyak/Kubiak) during public comment; later in the meeting the board adopted resolutions authorizing the nonrenewal of a principal and an assistant principal, votes recorded by roll call.
Several speakers at the Cleveland Municipal School District board meeting urged the board to allow a principal to continue serving at Joseph M. Gallagher School, while later the board adopted separate resolutions authorizing the nonrenewal of a principal and of an assistant principal.
Thomas Kubiak, who said he was on the board agenda later in the meeting, described professional and student achievements at Gallagher and asked the board to "vote with students" rather than bureaucracy. "If we take away the leader from a building that's making these kind of strides, what message are we sending to our students and to our community?" he said.
Other speakers described personal and community impacts of the principal’s leadership. Maria Michelman, a pre‑K intervention specialist at Gallagher, said she was hired to teach a full‑day autism unit and praised the principal’s warm reception and the building’s culturally diverse environment. A former student, Nima David, said the principal provided a safe environment after arriving as a refugee and urged the board to allow him to continue serving; David said she now returns to work with students at Gallagher because of the principal’s leadership.
Later in the meeting the board adopted a resolution authorizing the nonrenewal of the employment contract of a principal and, in a separate resolution, the nonrenewal of an assistant principal. Each resolution was presented with brief explanatory language indicating the action pertained to nonrenewal of an administrator’s contract; both motions passed by roll call. The transcript does not explicitly link the named individual speakers or the Gallagher principal references to the specific nonrenewal resolutions adopted by the board.
Speakers who supported the principal were invited to provide written materials to staff for distribution to the board. The board did not discuss specifics of individual personnel matters in public session beyond the formal motions recorded on the agenda.
