By Amantha Garpiel
TIPP CITY — The Tipp City Board of Education unanimously approved the extension of a contract to Aaron Moran for the Superintendent position currently held by Mark Stefanik.
During the March 7 work session, the board entered into an executive session to interview Moran and other candidates for the superintendent position at Tipp City. Following the work session, the board made the unanimous decision to authorize Dr. Lisa Tuttle-Huff to work with Moran on developing an employment contract for the superintendent position.
Back in January of 2023, the Tipp City Board of Education voted to non-renew Stefanik’s contract as superintendent and began the search for new candidates. Stefanik was hired as Tipp City’s Superintendent in 2020.
Moran currently holds the postion of superintendent at Versailles Exempted Village Schools and has since 2012. According to Tipp City Board of Education member Richard Mains, in the past 10 years at Versailles Moran has succeeded in bringing up the national and state rankings of Versailles Exempted Village Schools to number 2,686 out of 17,843 schools nationally and number 94 out of 750 Ohio ranked schools.
Versailles Exempted Village Schools has an enrollment of 1,256 students, according to the school’s Ohio Department of Education report card, while Tipp City has an enrollment of 2,370 students in the district. According to both district’s report cards, both schools are closely ranked in the five categories; achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation and early literacy.
All five board members were asked to comment on the approval of extending a contract to Moran. Anne Zakkour deferred her comment to Board President Simon Patry due to the decision to extend the contract being unanimous, she feels he is the best person to provide a comment. Member Amber Drum and Patry have not responded to a request for their comments, prior to press time.
Mains and Theresa Dunaway did choose to comment on the decision.
“When it was all said and done, Mr. Moran clearly stood out as the top candidate,” wrote Mains in an email. “During the interview, he was very clear in his answers to all 12 of the interview questions. He has a ‘no holds barred’ approach. He is not afraid to express his beliefs. One thing that resonated with me, was that his decisions were always based on what he believes is best for the kids, the parents, the teachers and his community.”
“He is not laid back. He said that he always strives to be the best in whatever he does for his schools. I believe he will be a very strong community leader. We have had many people express their support for Mr. Moran. I can’t wait to start working with him,” Mains concluded in his email.
“Mr. Moran’s approach is; trust in the community and schools, finanancial stability for innovation, resiliency and people and partnership developement. It will be exciting to watch him instill his values and take this district to the next level,” Dunaway stated in an email.
Moran was contacted and stated he would prefer to wait until there is an actual agreement between himself and the Tipp City School District before making any comments.
