LORAIN – The Lorain school board has delayed its annual performance review of Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson until the fall even as it works to negotiate a five-year extension to her contract.

Board Vice President Tony Dimacchia said the board had originally intended to complete the review by July, but board President Cynthia Miller decided after re-examining Atkinson’s current contract to delay the review. The contract requires the review to be completed by Oct. 1.

“I don’t see any red flags with performance evaluation or anything drastic that would lead us to believe we’d need a new superintendent,” Dimacchia said, adding that the board could approve a contract extension this month.

Board member Paul Biber said he believes it’s more important to keep Atkinson than to complete what he believes will be another positive review of her.

He said Atkinson has proven herself in Lorain and will be sought after by other districts willing to offer more money “unless we have her locked up with golden handcuffs.”

Atkinson’s first review, completed a year ago, isn’t in her personnel file, where the contract requires it be kept in a sealed envelope marked confidential. According to Ohio law, public officials’ performance reviews are public records.

Atkinson said last week that she would make the review available to The Chronicle-Telegram on Monday. She said Monday that she has been unable to locate her copy of the review, although Dimacchia said he has a copy he will make available.

Atkinson said she doesn’t know why the review isn’t in her file.

“You’ll have to talk to the board members about that,” she said. “I just had my copy.”

Biber said the board and Atkinson shared responsibility for making sure the review was part of her file and available for examination.

“This is kind of sloppy and embarrassing,” he said.

Board member Raul Ramos, who, along with Dimacchia, sits on the board committee reviewing Atkinson’s performance, said the board has other things to worry about besides completing Atkinson’s review.

He said he gave Atkinson a positive review a year ago, and his evaluation of her will be “even better” this year.

Board member Jim Smith said he’s not certain why his fellow board members are in a hurry to extend Atkinson’s contract, which isn’t up until July 2010, but he said he’s willing to wait on her review.

He said he had already completed his personal evaluation of Atkinson – which Ramos had requested on June 2 – and turned it in.

“It wasn’t as positive (as last year), but it was at least satisfactory,” he said.

He got a call from Atkinson’s office Monday telling him his evaluation would be returned to him and the review was being delayed.

But the delay means that he will have more criteria to judge Atkinson by, including enrollment numbers and a new state report card on how the district is doing, Smith said.

Smith said he was concerned that Atkinson’s first review wasn’t where it was supposed to be. It’s the second provision in Atkinson’s contract that has been violated, he said.

Atkinson also is in violation of a clause in her contract requiring her to live in the Lorain school district. The home she rents from school board attorney Anthony Giardini is in the jurisdiction of Amherst Schools.

Biber said the negotiations on Atkinson’s new contract – which could increase her total compensation package from about $213,000 to more than $250,000 per year – haven’t been completed yet.

He said the district can’t give Atkinson everything she has asked for and that the board also has some issues that need to be addressed.

For instance, he said, under the new contract, Atkinson will be required to give the board a monthly schedule noting when she takes vacation or sick days. That wasn’t being done before but should have been, he said, because Atkinson can get paid out for the days she accumulates and doesn’t use.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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