Vail’s salary is slightly less than the $140,000 base salary he received from Miamisburg, where he has served eight years as superintendent. Vail has more than 40 years of experience as an educator.
Vail’s first day in Carlisle will come a week before the opening of the pre-K- 12 school building. He holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Dayton. During his career, Vail has served as a math teacher, coach, athletic director, assistant principal, and four years superintendent of Versailles schools before starting as Miamisburg superintendent in 2012.
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Also on Thursday, the board named Tom Isaacs, superintendent of the Warren County Educational Services Center, as Carlisle’s interim superintendent from July 31 to Aug. 31. He will not be receiving any additional compensation to fill in until Vail starts.
“I’m just there to help out as needed and sign paperwork,” Isaacs said. “Dr. Vail is an outstanding educator and Carlisle is very fortunate to hire him. He’ll be a great fit for Carlisle.”
Ohio law requires all school districts to have a certified superintendent in place before the school year starts in order to operate.
The board also approved the retirement of Superintendent Larry Hook effective at the close of business on July 30.
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Last week, Hook accepted a contract to be the new Springboro superintendent effective Aug. 2. His current five-year contract ends on July 31 and the board granted him a one-year extension for the 2020-21 school year in late March primarily to get the district’s new $49 million, pre-K-12 building open in August. He came to Carlisle in 2010 after serving as Springboro’s assistant superintendent.
“I understand why Larry is leaving,” board president Bill Jewell Sr. said Monday. “He did what he had to do because we he got a one-year contract from us. He’s going to be hard to replace.”
On Tuesday morning, the board had scheduled another special meeting for today and Jewell said they were already looking at a couple of people for the job and were having background checks done.
“We really hated that we lost Larry” Jewell said. “I had a good working relationship with him. He took our district from being in fiscal caution to building a new school building. I’m sure we’ll find someone just as good.”
During Hook’s tenure, Carlisle was out of fiscal caution, the district’s state report card improved, an operating levy was passed and the 6.2-mill bond issue for the new school facility in 2017, changing the landscape of the Carlisle school campus from four buildings to one combined building.
Hook pledged to be available to the district to assist as his goal is to ensure the new building opens on time and on budget.
“We’re happy for him (Hook) as he’s going home and moving on to Springboro,” said Sam Lee, president of the Carlisle Teachers Association. “We’re excited about the new building opening and new leadership. It’s a great time for Carlisle because we have a lot of exciting things happening.”
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In late March, the board also unanimously approved the retirement and rehiring of Hook as superintendent for one year, effective on Aug. 1 with a 10 percent reduction in his current annual salary of $146,516. Hook is completing his final year of a five-year contract which expires July 31. At that same meeting, the board approved a new three-year contract with its teachers union.
In early March, Hook was also a finalist for the superintendent’s position in the Tipp City School District.
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