COLUMBIANA COUNTY Ex-E. Liverpool schools chief files appeal to get his job back

The school board's effort not to renew an administrator's contract is invalid, a court appeal argues.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- The former superintendent of East Liverpool schools is asking an appeals court to order the school board to give him back his job.
Don Lowe of Parshall Road, Wellsville, filed an appeal Thursday in the 7th District Court of Appeals in Youngstown asking the court to order him returned to his job with back pay. No dollar amount is specified.
School board president Maureen Aronoff was unavailable to comment.
Lowe's employment with the school district ended July 31 when his $80,000-a-year contract expired. The board has since hired Doug Hiscox, former superintendent of Canfield schools, to replace Lowe.
Lowe filed his appeal after a decision made earlier this month by visiting Judge John Mascio of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.
Judge's ruling
Judge Mascio ruled in a lawsuit filed in June by school board member Richard Wolf against other school board members.
Wolf's lawsuit maintained the school board met several times in violation of Ohio's Open Meetings Act.
One of those meetings was a Feb. 27 session during which the school board voted not to renew Lowe's superintendent contract.
Judge Mascio determined that the board had violated the open-meetings law by failing to give proper notice of the sessions, and he declared invalid any actions taken at the meetings.
Lowe's appeal argues that Judge Mascio's ruling invalidates the decision at the Feb. 27 meeting not to renew his contract.
Lowe also argues that Ohio law states that a school superintendent's contract is automatically renewed for a year unless a school board re-employs him or gives him notice that his contract will not be renewed by March 1 of the year his contract is to expire.
Since the board's February decision not to renew the contract is invalid, Lowe's contract is automatically renewed for a year, his appeal argues.
The appeal also states that Lowe, a former Columbiana County commissioner, has sought to return to work, but the school board has refused to allow him to do so.
leigh@vindy.com