YOUNGSTOWN School chief gets contract extension

The board hired a new community relations and public information specialist.
YOUNGSTOWN -- After conducting an extensive evaluation, the board of education has extended the contract of Superintendent Benjamin McGee by one year through July 31, 2004, without modifying it.
In a resolution passed Tuesday, the board said it is satisfied with McGee's management and business and financial skills and educational leadership, and his relationships with the board and its staff and the community and his personal qualities.
McGee, who has been superintendent since 1997, earns $95,684 a year.
The board also hired Mike McNair, publisher of The Buckeye Review, at a salary yet to be determined as supervisor of community relations and public information under a contract that will run from Jan. 6 to July 31, 2003. Board president Lock P. Beachum Sr. said McNair would have to take a leave of absence from The Buckeye Review while he works for the board.
Middle school design
The board also approved a design for the new East Middle School, which was prepared by Hanahan-Strollo Architects. The middle school will be built on Bryn Mawr Avenue, adjacent to North Elementary School, with seventh and eighth grade on the first floor and fifth and six grade on the second floor, said Architect Terry McCoy.
The new building will feature a colonnaded entrance designed to convey the dignity of education, an outdoor basketball court on its north side and a front parking lot with 130 spaces, McCoy said. Bryn Mawr Avenue will be widened to accommodate school buses, he added. The new building will be part of the school district's $182.5 million, six-year schools construction and renovation project.
After-school program
The board also heard a presentation on a new after-school program for ages 10-14 at Hayes Middle School, which will begin Feb.1 and be funded by federal, city, United Way and Ohio Department of Job and Family Services monies and charge no fees for participants.
The program will include tutoring, arts education, dance, karate and swimming (swimming at the Jewish Community Center) and meals and snacks for pupils. Computer instruction and debt management classes will be available for adults.