A Northeast Ohio native will return to Portage County as superintendent of Waterloo Local School District, starting in August.

Joe Clark, former superintendent of Nordonia Hills School District, was appointed Thursday to the position. He will replace Angela Terella, who has led the district since 2021. Terella will leave Aug. 1 to become assistant superintendent of Hudson City Schools.

Clark, a native of Tallmadge, served in Nordonia Hills from 2009 to 2023, most of those years as superintendent. He left the area for a year to take a job as superintendent of Westerville City School District in the Columbus area.

Before his time in Nordonia Hills, Clark served in a variety of positions in Kent, Barberton and Springfield. He holds bachelor, master and doctorate degrees from Kent State University.

Brian Pusateri, president of the Waterloo Board of Education, said Terella recently announced her resignation, which also was formally accepted on Thursday. The board asked the Summit County Educational Service Center to help find a new superintendent.

“We were fortunate to get someone as qualified as Joe on that short notice,” he said. “We kind of jumped on it.”

Clark said he loves the area and is looking forward to serving in Waterloo.

“I’m excited to come back,” he said.

Waterloo voters recently approved renewal of a levy, but the district has had a hard time getting new money from voters. In November, voters approved a 4.39-mill, five-year renewal levy to avoid an operating deficit. However, in May 2023, Waterloo voters turned down an 8.3-mill replacement levy, which was a combination of three taxes that were expiring. District voters previously rejected more than a dozen requests for new funding.

Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Ex-Nordonia Hills superintendent Joe Clark to lead Waterloo Local