By Joseph DiCristofaro
The Ironton Tribune

Ironton City School District Superintendent Joseph Geletka is the lone finalist for the position of superintendent for the Doss School Consolidated Common School District in Doss, Texas.
Geletka began his time in Ironton in 2018 after leaving Texas where he served for 16 years. In his time at Ironton, he has had several complaints brought upon him by teachers, students and the Ironton Education Association President Daniel Murphy.
“He (Geletka) verbally attacked me in the hallway over an incident where he claimed that I barked at his wife when I was going into a meeting,” Murphy said. “That’s not my character, my mom has raised me to be a high-quality and high-integrity person. Let alone I would not bark at any female.”
These complaints reached a boiling point in May when Geletka placed Ironton High School band director Anthony Nolan on administrative leave. The reason for Nolan being placed on leave stemmed from an interaction with a student from another school that resulted in the police being called on Nolan.
The student involved said that both he and his parents have a great relationship with Nolan and that the police being called were unnecessary.
“I’ve known Mr. Nolan for five years, we talk all the time, teachers are allowed to have a close bond with their students,” said Tomas Miller, the student involved. “I think it’s wrong to assume that he was assaulting me or that I was in danger, I wasn’t in danger at all. We were clearly playing.”
Many community members spoke out against the actions taken towards Nolan, and said this wasn’t the first time teachers have been done wrong by Geletka.
“Mr. Nolan is a black man, and the pattern has been established that Geletka doesn’t see black men as equal or deserving of respect,” said Kenny Riley, an Ironton Middle School teacher.
Geletka’s actions resulted in backlash from students who protested on several occasions outside the school and board building.
“We’re protesting because we feel that Mr. Geletka has done too many teachers wrong in the past, and Mr. Nolan was the last straw,” said Maddie Newman, a junior at IHS. “I feel like they’re doing Mr. Nolan more wrong because of his race.”
Before these recent events unfolded Geletka had applied in April for a superintendent position with the Boardman School District in Northwest Ohio but did not receive the position.
On June 14 Geletka was named the lone finalist for the superintendent position with Doss School Consolidated Common School District.
The area of Texas that the school resides in has a population of 245 as of 2022 according to census data.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Doss had only 22 students enrolled as of 2022. The NCES data for the same year shows that Ironton had 1,386 students.
By law, the district must wait 21 days after the announcement of a superintendent as the lone finalist before hiring them. The meeting to hire a superintendent will be held on July 9.