Youngstown gets '4 new voices' for school board

Two incumbents running for re-election fared poorly.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It's out with the old and in with the new on the Youngstown Board of Education as voters elected four political newcomers to serve on the body.
Board members Gerri Sullivan and Terri O'Connor-Brown, who were running for re-election, fared poorly, finishing 10th and 12th, respectively, in a 13-person race for four available seats. Also, Don L. Hanni III, a former school board member seeking to return to the body, finished in seventh place.
"Public service is a relay race, and it's my turn to pass the baton," Sullivan said.
Board members Tracey Winbush and Clarence Boles didn't seek re-election. They opted to run for president of city council, and the 6th Ward council seat, respectively; Winbush lost, and Boles won.
The four school board winners were running for political office for the first time.
Leading the field was Jamael Tito Brown, a community organizer at Youngstown State University's Center for Urban and Regional Studies. He was followed by Shelley Murray, Michael K. Write and Kathryn Hawks Haney. Because of the large field, Haney captured the fourth spot with only 8.68 percent of the vote.
Automatic recount
There will be an automatic recount because Joyce Lomax finished in fifth with 8.39 percent of the vote. Automatic recounts are conducted by the Mahoning County Board of Elections if the results of a race are decided by 0.5 of 1 percent or less. In this case, Haney beat Lomax by 0.29 percent of 1 percent, according to unofficial results.
The four board members-elect, who will make up the majority of the seven-member board, said they do not see their inexperience as a problem.
"Having four new voices is going to be great for the community," said Murray, a former adult education specialist at the Community Corrections Association. "We're all team players."
Haney, president of Give the Children a Chance Inc., said she plans to be a voice for the children. Regarding the large turnover in the board come Jan. 1, she said, "New brooms sweep clean."
Write, who runs Write 1 Enterprises, wants the four incoming members to meet with the three members and put together a plan to operate the school district.
Brown said the election of four new members and the rejection of the two incumbents shows that voters wanted a change on the board.
"The voters sent a message that the school board needs a fresh and new perspective," he said.
Other board races
In other school board races in Mahoning County, a large majority of the incumbents were re-elected.
The incumbents who lost Tuesday were: Chuck Eddy in Canfield; Daniel Rohan in Campbell; Fred Schuster in South Range; and JoAnn Rish in Struthers.
In Austintown, David Ritchie, the longest serving school board member in Mahoning County, was re-elected to his 10th four-year term on the school board. Michael W. Creatore, who ran on a campaign of more fiscal accountability at the school district, captured the other spot. Creatore easily beat Gene Benyo, a former board member wanting to return to the body, for the second seat up for grabs Tuesday.
That didn't thrill Ritchie.
"There's five votes on the board, and decisions will have to be made by all board members," he said. "We'll have to work together."
Creatore said township residents sent a message to the school district with votes to elect him and to reject the 5.9-mill, five-year new school levy.
"They want a reduction in spending," he said. "The board members should take a close look at spending cuts and making improvements. If not, then the next election will hold more change."