Searching Far and Wide

It’s been awhile since I sat down at this computer to write about CMSD money shenanigans. My sons are taking HIST 1010 for College Credit Plus and they have taken over my Chromebook. It’s sticky now and the ctrl key has chunks of peach and dog hair covering it. I am disgusted but I must overcome that to let you know about other disgusting things.

When I sent out my June 3rd piece, it was about public records from the Cuyahoga Country ESC. I had received CMSD spending lists and from that I made specific requests for documents. Also in June, I heard that CMSD hired a new Officer of Talent. This came as Lora Cover’s expensive HR consulting contract ended and new positions had to be created for the administrators being “laid off” in budget cuts. After I confirmed what I heard, that Paul Hoover the Network Leader is now the Talent Officer, I nodded my head because of course that’s what happened. The district level administration takes care of their favorites, ensuring that they have a fancy chair at the table when the budget cut music stops.

Of course, being familiar with Paul Hoover’s resume I did wonder what made him qualified to be the Talent Officer. I figured that his lack of human resources experience didn’t really matter as much as him being a lap dog. Probably even helped, to be honest. Paul Hoover was going to remain a highly paid administrator in CMSD no matter what.

Yes, telling people about Paul Hoover’s new position allowed me to make my favorite smirky face. But when I received a batch of records from the ESC a few days ago, the smirk became a scowl. You see, in that batch of documents was a Dr. Morgan request for money so CMSD could perform a search to fill the Talent Officer position.

Dr. Morgan “needed” this money so that he could pay the Alma Advisory Group $52,000 to find Paul Hoover. You remember the Alma Advisory Group don’t you? We gave them hundreds of thousands of dollars to find us Dr. Morgan, JR Tomkinson, and Candice Grosse. I have put in a record request for interview rubrics and application materials for all of the people that I’m sure applied for this job that Paul Hoover won on merit alone.

Let’s look at LinkedIn to see the kinds of experience one might have to be an HR Talent Officer. Lora Cover held that position back in the Eric Gordon era before becoming the go to HR consultant Dr. Morgan brought back to guide us through troubled times (of laying off teachers we really needed considering almost all have been called back and it’s only July).

Cover’s education relates to this work.

The woman clearly eats, sleeps, and breathes human resources since the moment she started higher education. Then there is Stephen Christian, a Talent Officer people were sad to see leave the district. His education?

Christian’s experience…

Laura Mulvaney, CMSD’s Executive Director of Strategic Staffing (who will make much less than Hoover) has some experience.

Oh, and there was that Matthew VanHoose guy who seemed to be in line for the top job in Talent before Lora Cover made him big sad. Wonder what experience he had?

We could also compare the CMSD Officer of Talent position to that of Amy Grover, the Chief Officer of Talent in Columbus City Schools.

Amy Grover is one of the higher salaries in Columbus, I don’t know what Paul Hoover will make as Talent Officer but he was making $160,000 (post pay band increase) as a Network Leader.

Are we curious as to what the Alma Advisory group saw when they collected up Paul Hoover’s resume for the top job in human resources? This job manages around 6,000 employees.

I do not believe that anyone other than Paul Hoover was considered for the job. I won’t know what for sure until I receive the search records. I do know that his background pales in comparison to other people who hold this position in school districts. I don’t care that Dr. Morgan wanted to reward a Yes man. I really don’t. The administration has become a clown show. I care that our appointed school board continues to let Dr. Morgan spend taxpayer money like this. $52,000 is the year long salary of a laid off teacher. But the appointed school board lets Dr. Morgan set it on fire in the middle of Superior Avenue.

Property taxes are tax payer money. ESC funds are taxpayer money. Money from Columbus is taxpayer money. Money from DC is taxpayer money. Dr. Morgan is going to waste that money like any other education bureaucrat. A school board should oversee it, guide it, and sometimes halt it. But this appointed school board will not.

Our group is currently circulating petitions to get the question of electing a school board on the ballet. We need 4,300 registered Cleveland voter signatures. We would like to have more than that when we turn them in. The first week that we had the petitions, I drove 320 miles all around Cleveland to deliver them to volunteers. While I think we have a lot of petitions circulating, we could always use more help. Sarah Hodge’s brilliant mother came up with the idea to do a big, one day petition push. So we are going to do it. Sign up to volunteer or stop by to sign the petition on Sunday July 26, 2026 from 2 to 4pm.

If you can join us on July 18th, we will have another meeting of the Elect A School Board group, during which we will be making signs and plans for Petition Day. If you have any questions, Sarah Hodge has put her phone number on the fliers and you can always email me pollykarr@gmail.com .

Special shoutout to CTU president Errol Savage and the CTU Executive board for getting so many of our teachers and paraprofessionals back into positions. Our students need them. Keep fighting, there is more to do.