Published: Sunday, May 13, 2007
Brookfield schools chief quits for position with United Local
The school board hopes to have a successor to the superintendent in place by the time he leaves.
BROOKFIELD — The Brookfield superintendent of schools is taking a job as athletic director in the United Local School District in Columbiana County.
Michael Notar notified Brookfield school board members Friday that he is leaving, said Joseph Pasquerilla, board president. July 31 will be his last day.
Notar was hired as Brookfield superintendent in 2005, and Pasquerilla said the school board had recently approved a two-year contract renewal.
Notar's decision to apply for and accept the athletic director's post at United didn't come as a surprise, however.
"We knew he was looking," Pasquerilla said Saturday, adding that Notar was apparently able to find a position that suited his interests.
Three-year contract
Notar said the United school board approved his hiring with a three-year contract Thursday. The job will pay about $10,000 a year less than his current $75,000 annual salary, he said.
"It's a nice way for me to get back into coaching," Notar said, pointing out that, for the first seven years of his career in education, he taught classes and coached both boys and girls junior and senior high athletics.
For the past seven years, he's been in administration and had to give up coaching, something he said he truly enjoys doing.
Notar said recent controversy surrounding the Brookfield district had no influence on his decision to leave.
Brookfield was placed under state fiscal watch in spring 2006, and the Brookfield Save Our Schools committee, formed by a group of residents concerned with the operation of the schools, had called for the board to fire Notar in February, although the board declined to do so.
Notar said he is now on good terms with that group, meeting with its members regularly as it serves in an advisory capacity to the district.
Will resign at meeting
Notar's resignation will come up for a vote at next Saturday's Brookfield board meeting, Pasquerilla said.
Brookfield will then launch a search for a successor, and, hopefully, have someone in place when Notar leaves July 31, Pasquerilla said. That search will involve local news media, the Ohio School Boards Association and the Trumbull County Educational Service Center, he noted.
If a new superintendent isn't in place by Aug. 1, the board will likely name an interim superintendent while the search continues, he said.
