L-B board hires new superintendent

Liberty-Benton's own Bruce Otley was formally hired as the next superintendent of the school district at a special school board meeting Tuesday evening. Otley officially resigned as Liberty-Benton's director of operations and signed his three-year superintendent contract with the district during the meeting. His term begins on Aug. 1 and ends on July 31, 2026. His salary is $121,900 per year. Otley replaces Mark Kowalski, who has served the district as superintendent since 2017. The Liberty-Benton Board of Education had approved a $14,900 contract with K-12 Business Consulting, a company based in New Albany, Ohio, to conduct a superintendent search during a special meeting on May 3. Otley was announced as the next superintendent Tuesday, six days later. Liberty-Benton administration wrote in a Tuesday release: "The Board worked with K-12 Business Consulting, Inc. to evaluate district needs and ideal candidate profile. After lengthy discussion the Board determined they had qualified internal candidates who have been valued employees for many years." The district's contract with K-12 Business Consulting states the consulting company would provide the district with "Silver Level" services beginning on May 3, which includes conducting "meetings with district employees, students, and other community members to develop a search criteria," preparing "written advertisements and job announcement documents," then developing "a target list of candidates that meet criteria identified" and actively recruit candidates, according to the contract. Board President Jim Mace added in an email on Tuesday that "steps to identify, screen and introduce external candidates to the Liberty-Benton community were no longer required" by K-12 after the discovery of qualified internal candidates, which "accelerated the timeline significantly." The district previously worked with K-12 Business Consulting to conduct a superintendent search in 2016, which concluded with Kowalski's hiring.