No.83 Resignation of Chairperson Ono and Superintendent Kojima and Transition to the New Board of Education System

Chairperson Yoshie Ono of the Inagi City Board of Education retired upon the expiration of her term on September 30, 2018, and Director Fumihiro Kojima retired upon the expiration of his term on October 14, 2018.
Mr. Ono has supported educational administration as an education commissioner and superintendent for 13 years since October 1, 2005, and Mr. Kojima has done so for 8 years since October 15, 2010. We express our gratitude for the efforts of both of them to date.
At the 3rd Regular Session of the City Council in September this year, I proposed Mr. Akira Kato as the successor to Mr. Kojima as Superintendent of Education, and Ms. Makiko Sugimoto as the successor to Mr. Ono as a member of the Board of Education, and received consent for their appointment (see page 4).
Mr. Kato was born in 1954, joined Inagi City Hall in 1977, and worked there for 38 years until March 2015. At the time of his retirement, he was the Director of the Department of Education. After retiring, while managing his family business, he voluntarily watched over the students of Minamiyama Elementary School, which he was involved in establishing.
Mr. Sugimoto was born in 1964, began teaching as a junior high school teacher in 1986, served as principal of Inagi Dai 4 Junior High School in Inagi City for two years starting April 2012, and worked as the Director in charge of Educational Guidance for Inagi City for three years starting April 2014.
Both have extensive practical experience at the Board of Education and are committed to working with enthusiasm on educational administration, so we ask for your continued support as with their predecessors.

By the way, following the retirement of Superintendent Kojima, Mr. Kato was appointed as the new Superintendent on October 15, 2018, and at the same time, we transitioned to the new Board of Education system based on the partial revision of the Act on the Organization and Operation of Local Educational Administration. Although this legal revision itself was enforced on April 1, 2015, a transitional measure was taken allowing the incumbent Superintendent at the time of enforcement to remain in office under the old system until the end of their term.
Under the new system, the Chairperson, who is the representative of the Board of Education, and the Superintendent of Education, who supervises the secretariat, have been unified. The former Superintendent of Education was selected from among the five Board of Education members, but the new Superintendent of Education is not a Board member and is directly appointed by the Mayor with the consent of the City Council, becoming a special city official similar to the Vice Mayor.
From now on, the Superintendent of Education will serve as the representative and manage the Board of Education together with the other four board members. Although the position of the Superintendent will change, the operation by consensus of the five members will remain unchanged.
The transition to the new system following the legal revision has been partially implemented in advance. The "Comprehensive Education Council," a forum where the Mayor of Inagi City and the Board of Education discuss and coordinate, was established on April 14, 2015. At the Comprehensive Education Council held on May 11 of the same year, the fundamental policy for education goals and measures, known as the Education Outline, was decided as "Inagi's Education Outline to Foster People and Culture through Interaction." With the appointment of the new Superintendent of Education this time, the transition to the new system has been fully completed.
This system reform fundamentally overhauls the framework to ensure the political neutrality, continuity, and stability of education, clarify the responsibility system in local education administration, establish a rapid crisis management system, and strengthen cooperation between the heads of local governments and the Board of Education.
From now on, we will promote education in Inagi in accordance with the education guidelines, while working more closely than ever with the new Superintendent of Education and the new Board of Education.