The Butler Tech Board of Education voted 6-5 Tuesday to renew the contract of Superintendent/CEO Bret Smith.

The renewal will keep Smith at the helm until July 31, 2015.

Smith has led the state’s largest career technology center since 2010. The Butler County facility, located on Ohio 4, serves nine local high schools and offers numerous adult education programs.

The vote reverses a previous decision made in August, two months after an employee survey revealed a “crisis of confidence” in leadership, in which the board voted against renewing Smith’s contract for three years.

The staff survey showed that 42 percent of employees expressed confidence in Smith and concluded “Butler Tech’s leadership has lost credibility.” Approximately 70 percent of Butler Tech’s 380 employees took part in the survey.

“To move forward, we had to either extend his contract under a different set of circumstances or vote to non-renew him,” said Board President Dan Murray, who represents the Fairfield City School District on the board. “The vote in August was not a final vote. We’ve had a lot of things to talk about.”

While he said that he would have preferred an 11-0 vote on the renewal, the board is still committed to acting as a whole to improve and enhance the educational opportunities for Butler Tech students.

“I think (the vote) reflected that some members had concerns and some members were comfortable with what was on the table,” he said. “Now we can move forward to address some of the concerns that the board members have.”

“As a board, we establish goals for our leaders (the superintendent and the treasurer) and we’ll continue to keep those goals in mind and keep us improving,” Murray said.

Smith said that while he was relieved that he has at least two more years at Butler Tech, the split vote tells him he has some extra work to do.

“This is such a great organization. I wanted to stay here and finish the work I’ve started,” he said. “I need to work with all the board members to do that, so I need to renew their confidence and the confidence of the community.”

The Butler Tech Board of Education is made up of representatives from the districts that participate in its programming.

Brett Guido, of Monroe Local Schools, was the swing vote in the decision, having reversed his “no” vote in August.

Voting against Smith’s contract renewal were: Katie McNeil, a board representative from Middletown schools; vice president Glenda Holt of Ross Local Schools; Mike Miller of Madison City Schools; Sue Price of New Miami Local Schools; and Lois Vollmer of Talawanda City Schools.

Voting to renew Smith’s contract were: Murray; Greg Tyus of Middletown City Schools; Ray Murray of Lakota Local Schools; Jim Miller of Edgewood City Schools; and Jim Detzel of Northwest Local Schools.