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A man with glasses and a tie sits looking pensively.
Federal Hocking High School Principal Jake Amlin had strong support from community members, but the district still accepted the superintendent’s recommendation not to renew his contract. [Theo Peck-Suzuki | WOUB/Report for America]

Residents react with outrage after the Federal Hocking board chooses not to renew High School Principal Jake Amlin’s contract

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COOLVILLE, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — Residents of the Federal Hocking school district packed the Coolville Elementary cafeteria for a marathon board meeting to decide the fate of the high school principal.

In the end, their presence was not enough to sway the board, which voted 4-1 not to renew Jake Amlin’s contract, with Jenny Leigh the lone dissent. Angry residents, some in tears, filed out shortly thereafter. They had waited almost four hours for a verdict. Now they had one.

“F****** ignorant,” one woman screamed at the board members and Superintendent Jason Spencer, who recommended Amlin’s nonrenewal.

A large crowd of people gather in a school cafeteria. Some people stand in the back.
There were no free chairs at Tuesday’s board meeting at Federal Hocking. Many attendees, including some students, stood in the back. [Theo Peck-Suzuki | WOUB/Report for America]
The meeting began at 6 o’clock. Shortly after, the board left to enter executive session, where they remained for two-and-a-half hours. Chatter filled the cafeteria as the crowd waited for the meeting to resume. A few people had to leave; many more stayed. Some ordered pizza. At one point, Amlin was summoned to join the executive session. The crowd cheered for him as he left and again when he returned.

After the board reconvened, and before the vote took place, several members of the community spoke. They did not hold back.

“To superintendent Spencer, I ask you to resign,” said community member Mindy Walker. “Resign and elevate your career somewhere else. We need consistency here. … We need a lifer. That’s Jake.”

Amanda McKnight, whose son Adam has been disciplined by Amlin before, also came to the principal’s defense.

“Everybody knows he and I have butted heads numerous times,” McKnight said, “but I am standing here today to defend his position. If I can do it, I don’t see what the problem is here.”

Adam McKnight led a walkout at the high school Tuesday morning after word spread that the district might not renew Amlin’s contract. His mother said Spencer had slammed the door in his face that day.

“Do you know what ended the protest today? It wasn’t that. It was Mr. Amlin going out and having a conversation,” Amanda McKnight said.

Federal Hocking senior Darius Pierce also spoke, despite having had surgery a few hours prior. “Mr. Spencer, I looked up to you as a man with great integrity,” he said. “That has changed.”

Pierce said he has been accepted into three Ivy League schools and plans to attend Harvard Law School in four years. He credited Amlin for his success.

“Because of Mr. Amlin, our class is going places,” Pierce said.

School psychologist Danielle Gurtis-Polk said she had worked in eight districts and that Amlin was “one of the most intelligent, compassionate, in-touch and proactive administrators I’ve ever met.”

Superintendent Dr. Jason Spencer sits at a table at a Federal Hocking board meeting.
One community member expressed anger at Federal Hocking Superintendent Jason Spencer for not looking her in the eye while she criticized him and the board for not renewing Jake Amlin’s contract. [Theo Peck-Suzuki | WOUB/Report for America]
“Not only does Jake Amlin go out of his way to create safe spaces for families, students and staff, he also spends a tremendous amount of time analyzing data and problem-solving to determine how to make everyone, including himself, better,” she said.

In an official statement, board President Kerry Sheridan-Boyd wrote, “Non-renewal is a tool that school districts have available to them when an administrator‘s contract is expiring, and the district is not satisfied with the performance of the administrator in furthering the mission of the district.

“The board of education supported the recommendation of Dr. Spencer to non-renew the administrator contract of Mr. Amlin.”

When asked for clarification about why Amlin’s performance was not satisfactory, Sheridan-Boyd shared data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. The data showed Federal Hocking High School’s test scores declined significantly between 2022 and 2024, with the district scoring well below state averages. The chronic absence rate was also 37.7%, more than twice the target of 18.7%.

Leigh declined to comment on why she voted to keep Amlin on board.

It is not yet clear who will replace Amlin as Federal Hocking High School’s principal next year. Federal Hocking students staged a second walkout Wednesday morning to protest the board’s decision.

A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled Danielle Gurtis-Polk’s name as Curtis-Polk.