Principal chooses classroom over lead position

by PAUL MORTON

Associate editor

It's been a long time since Eastwood Elementary School principal Brian Carter was in third grade, but when the new third grade class moves from Eastwood to Prospect Elementary School, Carter will move with them.

Tuesday the board of education voted unanimously to accept Carter's resignation as principal, effective Aug. 10. They also voted to hire him for the 2009-10 school year as an intervention specialist.

"Brian misses the classroom," said superintendent Geoff Andrews. "He approached me about three months ago when it became apparent Sharon Bittner was going to retire, and asked me if he could take her position."

According to Carter's resume from his personnel file, he earned a master of education in special education from the University of Hartford. He served as a special education teacher in Bowling Green, Ohio, and Torrington, Conn., before entering a school administrator internship program in the Parma City School district.

Andrews said Carter applied for the intervention specialist position and went through the same interview process required of new hires. He said Carter "wowed" the interview team.

"He's a very strong intervention specialist," Andrews said. "The whole interview team had him rated first, and not just by a little bit. He was clearly the best candidate."

Carter came to Oberlin from Parma at the start of the 2006-07 school year. So the kindergarten class from that year will move with him to Prospect, offering them a familiar face in their new school.

"That's great news for the kids at Prospect," Andrews said. "It's going to be challenging for us to find a principal of Brian's caliber to replace him at Eastwood."

He said the Eastwood job has been posted, and Tuesday he had already received about a dozen applications. Andrews said he expects to have a new principal selected in time for the next school board meeting on July 28.

Carter was on vacation last week and was unavailable for comment.