TIFFIN, Ohio — The search is on to find a new superintendent for Tiffin City Schools after Michael Zalar announced he will be stepping down from his position after just one year.
He's not the first person to have a short stay in Tiffin. The district has seen four superintendents leave in the last five years.
"We have had turmoil and turnover and they've been under not-so-great circumstances," Tiffin Board of Education President Meagan McBride said. "This one is a really understandable and normal occurrence, but on the heels of that series of events, it's heavy."
In a letter to the district, Zalar wrote:
"My wife and I planned to relocate to Tiffin. However, there have been a number of personal issues that developed this past year that caused us to reconsider our plans."
McBride said the district, staff, students and community deserve stability and someone who is committed to staying, but that task gets harder each year.
"The trend lines for how long they stay in districts used to be a 10-to-14-year thing," she said. "You stayed at a district. Now, the trend is really three to five years is what we're seeing."
Since there have been so many leadership changes, the board plans on searching for a new superintendent differently than in previous years.
"The full board is going to operate as the full search committee, which will put many more conversations in open meetings," McBride said. "We're also going to work to include community members."
Ideally, the board would like to have someone hired during the summer and ready to start by the start of school in the fall.
A special meeting will be held Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the middle school. The board will be discussing moving forward with the hiring process.