COLUMBUS, Ohio — Three months into the job, Columbus City Schools’ Interim Superintendent Angela Chapman is staying the course. 

What You Need To Know

  • Chapman has been in the district since 2019 and has also taught and led other large urban districts

  • The veteran educator of 20-plus years said she intends to apply to become the district’s permanent superintendent

  • Early literacy, Portrait of a Graduate, helping students stay on track for graduation, and attendance intervention remain top priorities

Chapman said when it comes to district priorities, Talisa Dixon was instrumental in setting priorities during her time as superintendent, and nothing will change. The district will stay on that path and complete the school year as planned.

This means things like early literacy, Portrait of a Graduate, helping students stay on track for graduation and intervening where necessary when it comes to chronic absenteeism.

“We have targeted messaging. So for example, if you're a parent and your son or daughter has missed school for five or more days, you’ll be receiving a text message. You will be receiving a phone call. You'll be receiving an email message to alert you that your son or daughter has been absent for five or more days,” Chapman said. 

As the district works to address children and their needs, it is also addressing safety concerns. This includes upgrading video surveillance technology in 19 of the district's schools to provide an extra layer of safety. They’re also adding alarms on all school building exterior doors, to prevent someone from entering or exiting unauthorized doors.

This is in addition to the extra safety and security specialists placed at elementary, middle and high schools and the installation of screening and detection systems for weapons at high schools.

Since the implementation, “I am pleased to say that since we have rolled out this new screening and detection system, we have not had one weapon at our high schools. So, it is serving as a deterrent to students, guests or any stakeholders that are visiting our schools so that’s significant,” Chapman said. 

In the meantime, the educator said she intends to apply for the permanent position as superintendent of the state’s largest school district. Still, she remains focused for now on the present assignment, while being the lead learner in the district.