Updated February 16, 2022, 6:16 AM ET
The Columbus Board of Education has approved a new contract for superintendent Talissa Dixon.
The school board voted on Tuesday evening on a new three-year contract that would keep Dixon in her post leading Columbus City Schools through July of 2025. The new contract will pay her $262,520 annually, an increase from her current salary of $256,740. Along with the usual array of benefits, the new contract also includes:
- $750 a month for vehicle expenses
- $150 a month for technology expenses
- 35 vacation days per year
- Personal liability protection from “claims, suits, actions and legal proceedings brought against the Superintendent in her official capacity and as an agent or employee”
Dixon came to Columbus in March 2019 from Cleveland Heights-University Heights City Schools, where she was superintendent for five years. She previously served as a principal in Columbus from 2001 through 2010.
Her contract was set to expire this summer.
Dixon has guided Columbus City Schools through some turbulent times, including labor strife her first summer as superintendent and the pandemic that started months later.
Dixon has at times been criticized by the Columbus Teachers Association, the district’s teachers’ union, for actions related to the pandemic, including her refusal to shut down all Columbus City Schools for two weeks at the height of the omicron variant-fueled surge in coronavirus cases. The district has instead shifted individual schools to remote learning when necessary, an approach supported by Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther and Columbus Public Heath.
