With only three days until graduation, Northridge High School’s student body president Ethan Goodwin addressed the district’s Board of Education for the final time as a student. He had an important message to share with board members: Northridge teachers feel intimidated and unheard.
During the scheduled public comment period at the May 20 board meeting, Goodwin shared results of a survey of teachers in the district. He received information from 14 of 25 teachers within the high school, and conducted sit-down interviews to better understand the data from personal stories. Goodwin told the board that teachers feel unsupported and uncomfortable.
“I am doing this because I believe that the only way to move forward as a school and as a district is to listen honestly and openly to the people who work here every day,” Goodwin said. “These teachers are not just employees. They are mentors, leaders, and in many ways the heart of the school.”
“It is a prevailing opinion among teachers that any kind of opposition will end in retaliation and some have already dealt with retaliation,” he added. “One teacher put it plainly: ‘I absolutely do not feel safe and comfortable attending a school board meeting in any way, shape or form.’”
Goodwin’s remarks came amid ongoing criticism of the district’s leadership and administrative structure. Controversy has surrounded the delineation of duties between the treasurer’s office and the superintendent.
The board voted during its April 15 meeting to reassign some of the treasurer’s current duties – duties that typically are the responsibility of the superintendent in most districts – when a new superintendent takes over in August. The vote came after months of public concerns and an ethics complaint against Treasurer Britt Lewis.
Addressing the management structural issues took on urgency in the wake of an annual state audit of the 1,200-student district that came with a letter citing a “noncompliance finding.” The finding is that, by virtue of the treasurer being assigned duties for which the superintendent is responsible, the treasurer is facing an ethics complaint.
Ohio Auditor Keith Faber sent a letter dated March 5 to district officials saying that his office would refer to the Ohio Ethics Commission a concern about Lewis being involved in the hiring of his wife, Carley Lewis, as the food service director – and that Mrs. Lewis reports to the assistant treasurer.
But Goodwin’s remarks to the board on May 20 went deeper than power dynamics within the administration. He emphasized that teachers do not feel supported by the board.
Results from his survey, which allowed teachers to respond anonymously because of concerns about retribution by administrators or board members, showed that teacher confidence levels are strongest in building-level administration, such as principals, who received a score of 5.54 out of 6 points, and Superintendent Kristine Michael (4 out of 6 points), who is retiring from the district and whose last meeting with the board was May 20.
Meanwhile, teachers’ confidence in the Board of Education’s leadership is low, with an average of 2, and even lower for Britt Lewis, with an average confidence score of 1.46 on a scale of 6.
Board President Evelyn Vance said she has not heard or seen any acts of retaliation.
“I grew up when anything worth saying is worth putting your name on,” she said. “Since I have been on this board, I have not seen anyone in this room be attacked, or I haven’t heard of anyone losing their job because of something they said.”
“It bothers me most that people don’t feel like they can attend a board meeting. … Nobody should feel threatened to come here.”
And yet, former employee and district resident Tiffiny Noble, has told the board during several meetings that she has been harassed outside of the meetings because of comments she has made during board meetings.
“Mrs. Vance, I will correct you, and state that you do have pending retaliation and harassment charges on Mr. Lewis and Mrs. Lewis from myself,” Noble said.
“There are pending accusations that are being investigated,” Noble said.
Vance acknowledged that “there has been dysfunction in communication, and that is something we all strive to do better at.”
This dysfunction has been seen in interactions between board members and between the board and district administrators during board meetings.
One ongoing example is the district response to school-building administrative assistants who have been asking since November 2024 for pay at the same level as district-office administrative assistants, who are paid at a higher rate.
Building-level administrative assistants have attended virtually all board meetings for months and regularly speak to remind the board of the disparity and, more recently, that the board actually voted in April to address the issue.
Cathy Wuertzer, one of the building administrative assistants, again shared her experiences with the board on May 20, saying that the matter is still unresolved, and that the situation is exactly what Goodwin was talking to the board about.
“The five building secretaries would be a great example of the type of lack of support that Ethan has defined. … This is my fifth presentation across six months to address two significant pay discrepancy issues among secretaries.”
According to Wuertzer, there are three different pay scales for secretaries throughout the district, and years of experience are being ignored. Wuertzer also said the administrative assistants have not received back pay to compensate for their lower wages, despite the April vote to approve payments.
Before Goodwin spoke about his survey, board member Doug Hart challenged the meeting agenda and Goodwin’s presentation because Hart said he was unaware that Goodwin was going to make a presentation.
Eventually, Goodwin was allowed to speak. And Vance responded by saying that teachers will have the opportunity to improve communication between administrators and teaching staff with incoming Superintendent Brian Blum, set to take the district’s top position on Aug. 1 this year.
But Goodwin said the problem isn’t communication between administrators and the teaching staff – it’s between the teaching staff and the board.
“I think the problem is at the top,” he told Vance. “The numbers show that the confidence is much less [compared to] the building administration level.”
Hart acknowledged there is room for improvement.
“I think that there can be more structure,” he added. “This is just another [concern] that Mr. Blum will definitely be interested in hearing about.”
Goodwin was disappointed by the feedback he received from the board, and said he felt like the board members were dismissive of the data he collected.
“Evelyn Vance attempted to disregard the core of the problem – the board, and the treasurer, Britt Lewis,” he said after the meeting. “At the end of the day, I spoke because I care about my teachers and I care about Northridge. … The numbers show the community feels a similar way.”
“My teachers have been fantastic, and in a lot of ways, from elementary to intermediate to high school, my teachers have been crucial in shaping me as the person I am today,” Goodwin added. “When I spoke to an administrator and two teachers and found how unsupported they felt by the board, I had to say something.”
Goodwin plans to attend the University of Cincinnati to study industrial design and hopes to be active in local government and politics in the future.
Delaney Brown writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.