Perkins promotes official to assistant superintendent

PERKINS TWP. — An experienced Perkins Schools administrator will take on a larger role beginning this school year. Board members unanimously agreed to promote Rena McClellan to assistant superintendent during this week's public meeting. Her new contract retroactively began Aug. 1 and lasts through July 2024. McClellan previously served as Perkins Schools' curriculum director for several years. During her new three-year contract, she will make about $107,900 annually, about $4,000 more than her previous salary. McClellan obtained her superintendent's license this past spring, spokesman Jeff Stacklin said. Before working at Perkins, McClellan worked at Parma City Schools and Lima City Schools, the district's website states. The last time the district had an assistant superintendent was in the late 1970s during superintendent Harold Butcher's tenure. "Additionally, Perkins Schools has had administrators serve in roles comparable to an assistant superintendent, including substitute superintendent and executive director," Stacklin said. Stacklin explained why McClellan is taking this new role, describing her as "an expert" in education. "Not only will she continue overseeing the district's curriculum, she will have expanded duties as the assistant superintendent to support students and learning, Perkins Schools faculty and staff and the board of education," he said. McClellan will work to implement the school district's strategic plan for daily operations adopted in January 2020 and "provide operational and leadership support where necessary and as designated" by superintendent Todd Boggs, Stacklin said. At the same meeting, board members approved Perkins High School's French club trip to Paris in June 2022 — originally scheduled for 2020 before the pandemic began — and Briar Middle School eighth-grade Philadelphia trip in May 2022. They also hired Shane Burrows to be Perkins High School's head track coach and Scott Dickman to be Perkins High School's head softball coach. Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com and follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood