A familiar face will become a main communicator in the Lorain City Schools.
The Lorain School Board of Education voted 4-0, with one abstention, Sept. 26 to hire Tony Dimacchia as the district’s director of communications and marketing.
Board member Barbie Washington abstained from voting citing a conflict.
The hiring of Washington’s daughter Arianna Washington as a paraprofessional, at Larkmoor Elementary School at $15.75 an hour, was included in the same group of approval of appointments as Dimacchia’s
The recommendation to hire Dimacchia was not even placed on the agenda until late afternoon Sept. 26.
The district did not say why it was added so late in the day.
Dimacchia, who currently serves as a Lorain City Councilman-at-Large and was a former member of the Lorain Schools Board of Education, will earn $100,000 a year.
The job has been vacant since May when Erin Graham, the wife of district Superintendent Jeff Graham, stepped down.
As the district efforts to extract itself from state control, it has emphasized developing more community partnerships and engaging more with the community.
Dimacchia, with his long ties to the community, was born and raised in Lorain, and his connections through politics and work, make him perfect for the job, Graham said.
“He’s a former board member,” Graham said. “He’s a former teacher in the district, so he understands the inside of the district from every angle and every perspective and knows our strengths and our struggles, and I think can communicate those well.”
The hiring of Dimacchia did not go unnoticed by the Board.
Board member Jay Ferguson specifically asked Graham to address Dimacchia’s hiring.
“I’m sure it caught everyone’s eye, or will catch everyone’s eye with Tony Dimacchia,” Ferguson said. “Could you go through for the public his qualifications and how he is a good fit?”
From there, Graham spoke about Dimacchia and his qualifications.
At one point, the superintendent used a basketball analogy and compared the former board member to LeBron James.
Finding Dimacchia for the communications director would be the same as playing a pick-up basketball game, having nine players, and all of a sudden LeBron walked by and looking for something to do, Graham said.
“So, for us, it was just an opportunity, in terms of community,” Graham said. “I can’t think of anybody any better.”
Dimacchia most recently worked as the director of operations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio.
In addition to Dimacchia’s hiring, the board approved the promotion of Lisa Roberson to associate director of communications.
Roberson previously served as a communications coordinator. She’ll now make $78,800 a year.
Roberson, a former newspaper reporter and editor, joined the district a year ago and has performed like a rock star, Graham said.
He pointed out that some journalists struggle to make the transition from objective reporting to a communications job, where the focus becomes messaging and building relationships.
That has not been a problem for Roberson, Graham said.
“She should be biased,” he said. “We do great things and her job is to help share that and establish relationships.”