This has been an eventful year for Springboro Community City Schools.

In the last five months, the Warren County district has seen large-scale turnover, had its school board president resign, incurred financial investigations of its athletic booster club and sports camps, observed community protests, and restructured its elementary school and central office operations.

However, transition is not new to the academically excellent Springboro district, which has the state’s highest report card rating and the third highest performance index in the Greater Dayton area, behind Oakwood and Bellbrook-Sugarcreek.

Since 2010, the district has employed three superintendents and four treasurers, and had two school board presidents resign midterm.

But this spring and summer, the district saw four out of five central office staff either resign or retire and had roughly 40 of its 300 teachers leave the district.

Although many who have left are pursuing other opportunities, others have said the board’s “micro-managing” of teachers and administrators has led to the increased exodus.

Jim Rigano, who was elected to the school board with David Petroni in November, admitted that the board is more engaged than past boards because in his opinion it is trying to get the district back to following policy. He said that practice had become lax.

“We ask questions that need to be asked; if a board doesn’t stand by its policies, then there’s no need for the board,” Rigano said. “We’re not telling them how to do their job, just questioning practices.”

Petroni added that this has been an adjustment for many in the district.

“I think that’s why you have this rift in the community,” he said.

This rift has been most evident in public protests concerning board decisions and in statements made by exiting officials.

Former superintendent Gene Lolli and recently resigned school board president Scott Anderson each went on the record as saying they left due to differences with the school board.

“I just didn’t like the direction the board was headed,” Anderson said. “That’s why I resigned.”

Lolli was Springboro superintendent for two years and assistant high school principal for two years prior to that. He announced he was leaving the district shortly after it was recommended that Springboro High School Principal Ron Malone be moved to the central office for the 2012-13 school year.

Some saw this recommendation as a power play by the board, even though the official recommendation came from Lolli, since the move was against the wishes of the highly respected Malone.

The reason given for the move was to leverage Malone’s success at the high school to the district as a whole. Springboro High School was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2011.

In response to the Malone decision, more than 300 community members successfully rallied to keep the principal at the high school.

Katie Chrisman, who helped organize the students’ protest regarding Malone, said the kids started realizing there was an issue in the district when the board “started attacking people we care about.”

“From what I’ve seen, the board is showing that they don’t have any respect for anybody’s opinion,” said Chrisman, who graduated this spring. “There’s an atmosphere, since they went after Dr. Malone and now Coach (Troy) Holtrey, where I could see that teachers would be afraid, like, ‘Am I next?’ That might be detrimental.”

The supplemental coaching contract of Holtrey, who has coached the boys basketball team for 21 years and earned 14 league titles, was not renewed by the board this summer. He is able to reapply for that job.

That decision also drew a public protest at the July 31 board meeting, with community members and students voicing their support for Holtrey and questioning the motivation of the school board.

Petroni said the board’s philosophy is to focus on curriculum, accountability, fiscal responsibility and policy.

He noted that these priorities have helped successfully get the district’s budget from deficit to surplus after five failed levies and uncovered financial issues with the district’s athletic booster club and sports camps.

The sports camps currently are undergoing a state audit. Also as a result of the athletic department examination, the district recently lowered students’ pay-to-participate fees for the second straight year.

“A lot of these things that our board has put into the place, a lot of people will see, are for the good of the district,” said Todd Petrey, who started as superintendent Aug. 1. “They’re preserving Springboro so that we don’t run into the issues of other districts. We could get there real fast if spending wasn’t stopped.”

Petrey said he, not the board, was behind the recent restructuring and he referred to it as the biggest change of all for the district.

The restructuring combines Dennis East and West elementaries into Dennis Elementary School, and Five Points East and West elementaries into Five Points Elementary School. It also moves two elementary principals into curriculum-related roles in the central office.

The district is in the process of hiring of two assistant principals at those elementary schools.

Scott Maney, Springboro teachers union president, said this restructuring should be good for the teachers to help prepare for the Common Core State Standards.

“We do need that curriculum support,” Maney said. “That’s a plus for everybody: kids, teachers, community.”

Petroni added that Springboro has “the strongest central office” now, and the board has more faith in the district’s leadership.

“We will be more hands off with this administration,” Petroni said. “We had to get involved in the budget process so we could believe in the budget. Moving forward is all I’ve been trying to accomplish.”